Tsuyama Castle - Castle Town

The castle town around Tsuyama Castle extends out mainly towards the west side of the castle acting as a first line of defense against the Western Daimyo. Along the edge of the city was a temple district and behind that was the Tamachi area where most of the samurai and especially the upper class s

Tsuyama Castle - Castle Town

The castle town around Tsuyama Castle extends out mainly towards the west side of the castle acting as a first line of defense against the Western Daimyo. Along the edge of the city was a temple district and behind that was the Tamachi area where most of the samurai and especially the upper class samurai lived.

The east side of the castle mount is also a cliff that drops down to the river naturally strengthening defenses. Across the river is part of the castle town extending along the trade route and watching over the eastern entrance to the city. A few rows of samurai residences towards the top of the hill cascade down to a merchant district along the highway at the bottom. The merchant district today is obviously a tourist area with the nice Edo Period atmosphere street lined with old buildings, shops and cafes, but it seems that only a few shops were open this day. There were also no particular tours or openings of the older or bigger more famous buildings. The road through the merchant quarter retains two classical castle town 'magari' in the road where it takes a quick dog legged turn to confuse attackers and limit seeing.