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Hitoyoshi Castle : A Study of Japanese Bibliography

This is all about Hitoyoshi 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 : Hitoyoshi Castle Ruins

LocationHitoyoshi City, Kumamoto Prefecture
Also known asKuma Castle, Mikazuki Castle
Type of castleHilltop
Mountain's nameー
Elevationー
ConditionRuins　
Designation National Historic Sites
Year built1204-1206
Abolished1871
Castle lordSagara Nagayori
Refurbishment lordSagara Clan
Portrait of Sagara Nagayori 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.

Hitoyoshi Castle admission

admission fee : free
admission time : am9-pm5
closing period : open Saturday, Sunday and national holidays only reference official site

Hitoyoshi Castle Google Map

Hitoyoshi Castle Images　

Hitoyoshi Castle is said to be the residence of Sagara Clan, who ruled the land from the Kamakura period to the end of the Edo period. It is a hilltop-ladder type castle , Kuma River and Muna River is like an outer moat, and there are many docks in order to use water transportation.
You can easily understand the location using two rivers.
There is a unique stone wall called "Warrior Return (Musha-gaeshi) ". In this warrior turn, a flat stone is protruding and piled up a little at the top of the wall, preventing it from going over the wall like a mouse and making it easier to drop, It can also be used to attack enemies stuck on the wall. This castle wall is only found in Goryoōkaku in Hakodate and Tsuruoka Castle In a Japanese castle.
It became the base for the Saigo Army in the Seinan War. Most were destroyed except for the stone walls.
Ruins of Ninomaru
Horiaimon Gate at entrance of Samurai residence

Currently, the castle ruins are organized as Hitoyoshi Castle Park.

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