Shiwa Castle

This is a place I've very much wanted to visit since I first heard about it. It is a great faithful reconstruction of this ancient type of Japanese castle. The combination of the large tsuijibei walls, topped by these old style yagura is very impressive. I just wish we could go up inside the yagura

History

Shiwa Castle was built in 803 by Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. It was one of several josaku castles built in the Nara and Heian periods to pacify the Tohoku region. It took about 4000 soldiers one year to complete the castle. Shiwa Castle was the largest of these josaku castles. The immesne outer wall is 840 meters long. The outer moat beyond this wall was 930 meters long. It is also estimated that approximately 4000 soldiers and government officials lived within the castle. The war with the local Emishi peoples ended in 811. In 811 Shiwa Castle also suffered flood damage and was abandoned in favor of the recently completed Tokutan Castle.

Field Notes

This is a place I've very much wanted to visit since I first heard about it. It is a great faithful reconstruction of this ancient type of Japanese castle. The combination of the large tsuijibei walls, topped by these old style yagura is very impressive. I just wish we could go up inside the yagura or gate. There was great weather this day so I went to great lengths to get a couple good pictures with Mt. Iwate in the background.

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Leaflet

Gallery

• 

  south gate
• 

  South Gate
• 

  South Gate
• 

  yagura
• 

  yagura
• 

  Gate, yagura and walls
• 

  administrative building
• 

  south gate, inner enclosure
• 

  south gate
• 

  south gate
• 

  East Gate
• 

  West Gate
• 

  West Gate
• 

  West Gate, East Gate
• 

  form fo building walls
• 

  Newly built yagura

Castle Profile
English Name	Shiwa Castle
Japanese Name	志波城
Founder	Sakanoue no Tamuramaro
Year Founded	803
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	National Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	gates, turrets, trenches, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Morioka Sta (Tohoku Main Line, 15 min taxi)
Hours
Time Required
URL	Castle Website
Location	Morioka, Iwate Prefecture
Coordinates	39.68502, 141.10608
Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":6,"defzoom":14,"layers":["CartoDB.Positron"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":39.68502,"lon":141.10608,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null} Leaflet
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2010
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2010
Admin Visits	May 22, 2010

3.29

(7 votes)

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