Marugame Castle

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Marugame-jō
Marugame Castle

Marugame Castle

Creation time : 1597
Castle type : Hirayamajiro (hill castle)
Conservation status: Castle tower, walls and moat preserved
Construction: Stone, wood
Place: Marugame
Geographical location 34 ° 17 '10.3 "  N , 133 ° 48' 0.7"  E Coordinates: 34 ° 17 '10.3 "  N , 133 ° 48' 0.7"  E
Marugame Castle (Kagawa Prefecture)
Marugame Castle
View of the Ōtemon (main gate)

The Marugame Castle ( Japanese 丸亀城 Marugame-jō ) is a Japanese castle in Marugame in Kagawa Prefecture in Japan .

history

Ikoma Chikamasa, who built Takamatsu Castle, built another one on a 66 m high hill in 1597 (called Kameyama because of its turtle shape), which was completed in 1602. However, this was given up as early as 1615, following the “one province - one castle” order of the shogunate. From 1641, however, Yamazaki Ieharu renewed them. After the Yamazaki , the Kyōgoku family (60,000 koku in income, Tozama Daimyō ) ruled here , which belongs to the Uda-Genji line established by the Uda Tennō . She ruled this fiefdom for seven generations until the Meiji Restoration and carried the family coat of arms opposite.

Castle complex

Marugame Castle (see text)

The castle is protected by three staggered walls , it is the highest structure of its kind in the country. You enter the castle in the north through the main gate (大 手 門, Ōtemon; 5 in the drawing). To the right and left of the main gate, bulges in the trench served as landing places for boats. On this lower level was the residence (表 御 殿, Omote-goten; 6) of the lords of the castle. In the event of a defense, one could withdraw to the castle hill. A steep ascent leads to it via the "Blickrückück-Hangweg" (見 返 坂, Migaeshi-saka; 9) until you reach the third castle area (三 の 丸, San-no-maru; 4), which runs around the whole mountain. We continue to the second castle area (二 の 丸, Ni-no-maru; 3) and finally to the inner, highest castle area (本 丸, Honmaru; 3). There is the actual castle tower (天 守, Tenshu) from 1660 - one of the twelve surviving from the Edo period - which was originally flanked by other towers.

The castle tower and the main gate were declared an important national cultural asset .

photos

  • At the moat

  • View of the Ōtemon (main gate)

  • Main gate, inside

  • View of the castle tower

  • Castle tower

literature

  • 亀 山 観 光 協会 ： 丸 亀 城 , 2010
  • Ikeda, Koichi .: Marugame-jo in: Miura, Masayuki (Ed.): Shiro to jinya. Saikoku-hen. Gakken, 2006. ISBN 978-4-05-604379-2 .
  • Nishigaya, Yasuhiro (Ed.): Marugame-jo In: Nihon meijo zukan, Rikogaku-sha, 1993. ISBN 4-8445-3017-8 .

Web links

Commons : Marugame Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files