Yodo Castle

The stone walls of Yodo Castle are quite impressive. Unfortunately, the grounds are in a bad state of maintenance. The walls are overgrown with weeds in places, the weeds inside the baileys are out of control making the mosquitoes in October terrible. The very few signs are falling apart and there i

History

In 1623, Tokugawa Hidetada ordered Matsudaira Sadatsuna to build a new castle here to fortify southern Kyoto. The plan was to dismantle Fushimi Castle and move the main keep here by rebuilding the former Yodo Castle closer to the river. The stone walls also made use of some stones from Fushimi Castle. At the last minute, the main keep was moved to NIjo Castle instead and the main keep form Nijo Castle was moved to Yodo Castle. The original foundation at Yodo Castle had been built to accommodate the larger Fushimi Castle main keep so the smaller Nijo Castle main keep had a lot of extra area on the foundation. To fill the area they built smaller 2 level yagura at the corners, connected by a single story yagura all around. The main keep burned down in a lightning strike in 1756. In 1856, the Shogunate forces who were defeated at the Battle of Toba Fushimi fled to regroup at Yodo Castle. However, they were refused protection by the lord of the castle despite having been loyal to Edo in the past. This was the final blow to the defeat of the former Shogunate forces in Kyoto.

Field Notes

The stone walls of Yodo Castle are quite impressive. Unfortunately, the grounds are in a bad state of maintenance. The walls are overgrown with weeds in places, the weeds inside the baileys are out of control making the mosquitoes in October terrible. The very few signs are falling apart and there is a lot of trash scattered about. For a city like Kyoto that values its heritage, it is a shame to see this site falling into ruin. Especially when they just rebuilt the station and put millions of dollars into a new horse racing park just on the other side. Maybe they can return some of the profits from the those back into restoring the site one day. I understand that plans were drawn up to reinvigorate the site a few years ago, but no progress to date.

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Gallery

Main keep foundation
Moat and stone walls of the Honmaru.
Main keep foundation and train line.
Honmaru stone walls
Stone walls of the main keep foundation.
main keep foundation
Main keep foundation
Honmaru and main keep foundation stone walls.
Honmaru stone walls
Main keep foundation
Main keep foundation
Entrance to the main keep foundation.
Honmaru stone walls.
Path down from atop the honmaru stone walls.
Stone walls inside the honmaru
Looking over the stone walls
Looking out from the stone walls
Former yagura foundation.
An interesting kokuin (lord's mark).
Kokuin marks
Map

Castle Profile
English Name	Yodo Castle
Japanese Name	淀城
Alternate Names	Ukijiro, Tenjiro
Founder	Matsudaira Sadatsuna
Year Founded	1623
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Edo Period
Features	water moats, stone walls
Visitor Information
Access	Yodo Sta. (Keihan Line); 1 min walk
Hours	Park is open any time.
Time Required	30 mins
URL	Castle Website
Location	Kyoto, Kyoto
Coordinates	34.90481, 135.71761
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2010
Admin Year Visited	2014
Admin Visits	October 19, 2014

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(7 votes)

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