was a

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

located in what is now the town of Aizubange,

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

, in the southern

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of Japan. The site has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 2007.

Overview

Jingamine Castle is located on a fan-shaped hill in the northwestern end of the Aizu Basin, with the Aga River to the north, and the main route to

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

to the south, with an elevation of 192 meters. It is protected by a steep cliff on its eastern side. The castle site is roughly pentagonal, approximately 110 meters east–west and 175 meters north–south, surrounded on three sides by a double moat ranging from 30 to 60 meters in width and 15 meters in depth. Inside this enclosure was a large building with a pillar foundation, and numerous artifacts such as Chinese white porcelain, Korean celadons, bronze mirrors and weights have been found in large numbers. To the east of the site of the central structure, porcelain plates, carbonized wooden bowls and balls of rice, plus large quantities of carbonized rice and beans were discovered. According to historical records, during the Heian period, this area was the "Inagawa no shō", a ''

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' belonging to one of the

Five regent houses The Five Regent Houses (五摂家; ''go-sekke'') is a collective term for the five families of the Fujiwara clan that monopolized the regent position of '' Sekkan'' in Japan from 1252 until 1868. The five houses are Konoe, Takatsukasa, Kujō, I ...

of the

Fujiwara clan The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

, and was possibility the fortified administrative center of the manor constructed by

Fujiwara no Tadazane was a Japanese noble, the son of Fujiwara no Moromichi and the grandson of Fujiwara no Morozane. He was the father of Fujiwara no Tadamichi. He built a villa, Fukedono, north of the Byōdō-in Temple in 1114. Marriage and children * Minamoto N ...

in 1114. Tadazane's grandson,

Kujō Kanezane , also known as , is the founder of the Kujō family (at the encouragement of Minamoto no Yoritomo), although some sources cite Fujiwara no Morosuke (908–960) as its founder. Kanezane organised the compilation of the Kitano Tenjin Engi, the hi ...

mentions the castle in his ''Gyokuyō'' diary, stating that the Jō clan of Echigo Province seized the castle after their defeat by

Kiso Yoshinaka , also known as , was a Japanese samurai lord mentioned in the epic poem ''The Tale of the Heike.'' A member of the Minamoto clan, he was a cousin and later rival of ''shogun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and th ...

in the

Gempei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

, but were driven away by the forces of

Fujiwara no Hidehira was the third ruler of Northern Fujiwara in Mutsu Province, Japan, the grandson of Fujiwara no Kiyohira. During the Genpei War, he controlled his territory independently of the central government; however, he was the official imperial governor f ...

from

Hiraizumi is a town located in Nishiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,408 and a population density of in 2,616 households. The total area of the town was . It is noted for the Historic Monuments and Sit ...

. The subsequent history of the castle is uncertain; however, as many of the artifacts discovered all date from roughly the twelfth century and have all been scorched or have been carbonized, and as a wide variety of iron projectile points have been found in large numbers everywhere within the interior, it is probable that the castle was destroyed in this conflict and never rebuilt. The Aizubange Board of Education, where the archeological site is located, conducted an excavation survey for three years from 2002. The excavated relics were collectively designated as a Fukushima Prefectural Important Cultural Property in 2010. The site is approximately 12 minutes by car from Tōdera Station on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Tadami Line The is a scenic railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Aizu-Wakamatsu Station at Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture with Koide Station at Uonuma, Niigata, Uonuma in Niiga ...

References

External links

Aizubange town site
{{in lang, ja Historic Sites of Japan Castles in Fukushima Prefecture Aizubange, Fukushima Ruined castles in Japan 1110s in Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Mutsu Province

Overview

See also

References

External links