is a grouping of twenty-four Ainu

chashi is the Japanese term for the hilltop fortifications of the Ainu. The word is of Ainu origin, from チャシ (''casi'', ), which means palisade or palisaded compound; a rival theory relates this to the Korean term 잣 (''cas'', ''jat'', ) o ...

on the

Nemuro Peninsula The Nemuro Peninsula (根室半島 ''Nemuro-hantō'') is a peninsula which extends from the east coast of Hokkaidō, Japan. It is some long and wide, and forms part of Nemuro City. Cape Nosappu at its tip is the easternmost point of Hokkaidō. ...

in Nemuro,

Hokkaidō is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, Japan that have been jointly

designated Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election, for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's ...

a national

Historic Site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

, out of a total of thirty-two chashi sites identified in the city. The grouping is also the first entry on the Japan Castle Foundation's 2006 list of

Japan's Top 100 Castles The Japanese castle, castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, the Japanese Castle Association created an additional finest 100 castles list as Continued Top 100 Japane ...

. Typically found at elevations of to above sea level, they are mostly situated on bluffs overlooking the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

, reinforced with U-shaped or semicircular moats. Relative to many of those elsewhere on the island, their state of preservation is good. They are thought to date from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and are associated with the 1789 Menashi–Kunashir rebellion. The twenty-four comprise: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .

References

{{reflist History of Hokkaido Nemuro, Hokkaido Archaeological sites in Japan Chashi

See also

References