Ogyuyamanaka Castle
Ogyūyamanakajō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Kugyūdaira Township, Toyota Municipality. There is a path from the hamlet of Irisaka near the top of the valley. One of the farmsteads has stonewalls and a bridge over the road, and the entrance into the forest is just up past there around th
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History
Ogyūyamanakajō was the castle of Matsudaira Shigehiro. Ogyūyamanakajō is also the site of the battle of Ogyūyamanaka between Amano Kageyasu and local Matsudaira forces in 1555.
Field Notes
Ogyūyamanakajō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Kugyūdaira Township, Toyota Municipality. There is a path from the hamlet of Irisaka near the top of the valley. One of the farmsteads has stonewalls and a bridge over the road, and the entrance into the forest is just up past there around the bend. There is a pass through the hills. A signpost points left and right. To the right is the site of the Ogyūyamanaka battlefield, but the castle ruins are to the left. I went to the battlefield first and wondered around aimlessly, but there is nothing particularly to see apart from a marker stone.
Ogyūyamanakajō is an earthworks fort made up of a primary bailey complex, and possibly some other baileys here and there on nearby ridges and peaks. The main bailey is surrounded by an obikuruwa (belt bailey). Some more baileys protrude from the hilltop like stunted limbs, and there are shallow cuttings along one ridge which would seem to indicate a horikiri (trench).
There is a stone-piled retaining wall built against the main bailey, but this is not from the time of the fort, but seems to have been used for a small mountain shrine that existed, now itself gone. Curiously, there is a small stele just before where the shrine sat which is said to be the cenotaph of the lord of the castle. However, why does it look like it's part of an old shrine set-up? The inscription on the stone is illegible. Next to this I found an old wooden pole. Probably it had a sign on about the site.
A hand-drawn map of the site produced locally shows that there was a watchtower in a detached bailey, but it seems there's nothing there now but rocks. According to local tradition, a large boulder was situated here, and a look-out was perched atop of that, but the boulder was hewn away for stone blocks. This information is from a blog called 'Shiro to rekishi aruki wo tanoshimu', which is my favourite blog about castle sites in Mikawa.
'Ogyūyamanakajō', known (very) locally simply as Yamanakajō, is one of no doubt hundreds of castle sites called 'Yamanaka', meaning 'in the mountains', throughout the land, and, as such, it is commonly called Ogyūyamanakajō to distinguish it from similarly named castles. It is not to be confused with Ogyūjō nearby.
Gallery
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| Castle Profile | |
|---|---|
| English Name | Ogyuyamanaka Castle |
| Japanese Name | 大給山中城 |
| Founder | Matsudaira Shigehiro |
| Year Founded | Mid' 16th Century |
| Castle Type | Mountaintop |
| Castle Condition | Ruins only |
| Historical Period | Pre Edo Period |
| Features | trenches |
| Visitor Information | |
| Access | 25 minute walk from Hayashizore bus stop to start of trail |
| Hours | 24/7 free; mountain |
| Time Required | 40 mins |
| URL | Castle Website |
| Location | Toyota, Aichi Prefecture |
| Coordinates | 35.04704, 137.23424 |
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| Admin | |
| Added to Jcastle | 2024 |
| Contributor | ART |
| Admin Year Visited | Viewer Contributed |
| Friends of JCastle | |
| Jōkaku Shashin Kiroku | |
| Shiro Rekishi Meguri | |
