#honmaru still at construction

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Looking out the window at the walls and turrets of Kanazawa Castle. Since it was originally established in the mid 1500s, Kanazawa Castle has existed in several different configurations, mostly due to its tendency to burn down.

  Kanazawa Castle.  These shots have been sitting in the archives since early last year, waiting for me to get around to writing it up here at Wayfarer Daves.  Finally, it’s time to revisit the New Years 2017 grand adventure and have a look at this newly recreated castle.

The reconstructed main gate of Kanazawa Castle. Many of the buildings have been rebuilt using traditional methods and materials, and all of which are open to the public.

Kanazawa is a large city on the Western coast of Japan, capital of Ishikawa Prefecture.  The foundation of the city is a little murky.  During the feudal era, the area was part of Kaga Province, a troubled province that was consistently a thorn in the side of the Ashikaga Shogunate as it was difficult to control.  A particularly militant sect of Buddhist warrior-monks frequently rebelled and led the peasants and lesser samurai against the local leadership.  At once point, they even toppled a provincial governor, called a Shugo – a kind of Daimyo who acted as governor over collections of smaller Daimyo and land-owners, and replaced him with a more popular samurai.  This period is often called the Kaga Ikki (rebellion), or as The Peasants’ Kingdom.  It was in this turbulent time when a mountain temple nestled between two rivers was fortified into a defensive complex for the warrior monks and their followers.  Over time, a castle town began to grow around the temple fort, laying the foundation for the city of Kanazawa.  The Peasants’ Kingdom and the monks maintained control of the area until 1573, when Oda Nobunaga grew tired of their causing problems and over the next few years had the rebellious monks put down, placing one of his faithful generals, Sakuma Morimasa in command of the area with instructions to regain control of the Kaga Province.  Morimasa established a castle near the old monks’ fortification, calling it Oyama Castle.  It was later renamed Kanazawa.  Sakuma didn’t retain control of the castle for long though.  In 1582, Oda Nobunaga was assassinated, and in the ensuing civil war, the Sakuma Clan backed the losing side.  In 1583, they lost a pitched battled to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and lost their holdings and Morimasa lost his life.

The walls and turrets of Kanazawa Castle. The whitish-gray color of the tiles is the result of them originally being made from lead. It is said that they used lead because it was waterproof and could be melted for bullets in the case of a siege.

Once the dust settled, Toyotomi took control of all of Japan and handed Kaga Province and Kanazawa Castle to one of his best generals, Maeda Toshiie, who ordered the whole castle torn down and a larger, stronger castle with a large six story keep built in its place.  This began a vicious cycle.  Maeda’s huge keep was burned down in 1602, and was replaced by a more practical -and comfortable -single level palace and surrounded by stronger outer walls.  In 1631, the castle burned down again, and was completely redesigned.  This happened again in 1759 when the whole city burned to the ground, taking the castle with it.  After the Meiji Restoration, the castle was given to the army and used as the headquarters of the 9th division.  Whatever they didn’t tear down burned down in 1881.  Post war, Kanazawa University built a campus on part of the site until 1996, when the city started to repair and restore the site.  Today a couple of original buildings still exist:  Ishikawa Gate which faces Kenroku-en Garden (1788) and two large storehouses from 1858.  Since 2000, many more buildings have been reconstructed using original materials and methods to resemble the castle as it would have been in the 1850s, and it seems more of the castle is being rebuilt.  When we visited, there was ongoing construction in parts of the inner bailey.  Whatever hasn’t been reconstructed is currently used as a large, central park.

The tea house of Kenroku-en Garden – considered one of the three great gardens of Japan. The tea house was build in 1725, surviving several fires in the surrounding city.

Kanazawa Castle is far from the best castle I’ve visited, and while it is good to see the city rebuilding everything in the original style, it is rather underwhelming compared to some of the great castles we’ve already covered here.  On its own, it wouldn’t really be worth the trip, but it isn’t on its own.  Kanazawa is a great city, and they have also preserved the old Geisha district, converting the geisha houses into numerous comfortable shops, tea houses, and restaurants.  There are several old temples, some still associated with the warrior monks of old and with ninjas.  More importantly, Kanazawa now has its own direct Shinkansen (bullet train) line from Tokyo and is one of the terminals for buses to Shirakawa-Go and Takayama, making it a great first stop of a grand central Japan adventure.  If you do decide to take that trip, take a couple days to visit Kanazawa, and check out the castle.  It is definitely worth seeing.

Check out more information about the castle, and about Kanazawa in general here:

http://www.kanazawa-tourism.com/eng/guide/guide1_1.php?no=2

  The tea house of Kenroku-en Garden – considered one of the three great gardens of Japan. The tea house was build in 1725, surviving several fires in the surrounding city.

Looking at one of the reconstructed turrets from outside the castle.

The view from the top of the three story turret at the front of the castle.

Looking at the large turrets and long hall at the front of the honmaru.

The honmaru, or inner bailey of Kanazawa Castle. There was a large keep here for a short time, but it burned down. Then there was a palace, but that burned down too.

Looking out the window of the rebuilt honmaru gate of Kanazawa Castle, out at the Castle Park that were once the outer baileys and fortifications of the original castle.

Kanazawa – An Ever-Changing Castle Kanazawa Castle.  These shots have been sitting in the archives since early last year, waiting for me to get around to writing it up here at Wayfarer Daves. 

#castle #Castles #Dave #Edo Period #History #japan #museum #Nippon #ruins #samurai #Travel #Trip