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Akashi Castle : A Study of Japanese Bibliography

This is all about Akashi Castle Ruins you want to know.
Every information you get on this site will be from a credible source based on Japanese history (books for reference).

"Kojō ezu(picture in Edo Period)" from 国立国会図書館

Collected by the Inagaki family, the Toba Daimyō from the mid-Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, as materials for military studies. There are about 350 illustrations, but there is no uniformity because only illustrations of castles, illustrations including castle towns, and old battlefield illustrations are mixed.

Another typical example of a castle picture in the Edo period is "The Shōhō Shiroezu", picture of the castle and castle town that the Edo Shogunate ordered the daimyō to create and submit,aggregating military information such as the buildings inside the castle, the height of the stone wall, the width of the moat and the water depth, etc., it also details the location and shape of the castle town and the mountain river.

Profile : Akashi Castle Ruins

LocationAkashi City, Hyogo Prefecture
Also known asKiharu Castle
Type of castleHilltop
Mountain's nameー
Elevationー
ConditionNo main keep but other buildings
DesignationNational Important Cultural Properties
National Historic Sites
Year built1618
Abolished1874
Castle lordOgasawara Tadazane
Refurbishment lordMatsudaira Tadamune
Portrait of Ogasawara Tadazane from Wikipedia
Family Crest from "Bukan Complete Works" (produced by CODH)
adapted from "Classical Japanese National Data Set" (Kokubunken Collection)

The family crest was originally created from the pattern that the emperor and the royal family put on the kimono, and the pattern was made into a fixed pattern, and the one attached to his own oxcart is said to be the beginning of the family crest. The warlords drew large crests on the flag-fingers, used to distinguish enemy views on the battlefield, and used by the generals to determine which warlords were active and how much.

Akashi Castle admission

admission fee : free (Akashi Castle Park)
open : Saturday,Sunday,National holidays reference official site (japanese)
Hitsujisaru Yagura：10:00～16:00 (March/May/September/November)　
Tatsumi Yagura ：10:00～16:00 (April/October)　　

Akashi Castle Google Map

Akashi Castle Images　

Hilltop style castle built using plains overlooking the Akashi Strait and small hills. Although there was one of the largest castle towers in Japan, no main keep was built. The builder is Ogasawara Tadazane, however, it was the second general Tokugawa Hidetada, who ordered the castle. The aim of the shogunate's construction of Akashi Castle was to monitor the daimyō of Western district. Originally there was another castle here, but its defence ability was poor. It is said to be a new castle fortified because it was considered unprepared as a preparation for the West. Because Ogasawara had a close connection with Tokugawa Ieyasu, It can be understood that this land was a key point looking West.
Hitsujisaru Yagura(left) and Tatsumi Yagura(right)

Triple-third floor Yagura were built at the four corners of the Honmaru, but there are only two of them, Both are national important cultural Properties.
Hitsujisaru Yagura (left)
The largest tower in the castle built in the southwest corner, It seems to be a substitute for the main keep.
Both Yaguras are magnificent, painted with white stucco exterior walls, connected by a white stucco earthwork, and the view overlooking the earthwork and both Yaguras is really wonderful.
Teppōzama (left) and Yazama (right)

a shooting spot against enemies from inside by guns and arrows

-westjapan

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