En un regard
Le château en bref
An ancient mountain fortress, Ōno Castle wraps around the ridges of Mount Shioji north of Dazaifu, on land belonging to Dazaifu, Ōnojō and Umi. It has nothing in common with a samurai castle: no keep and no moats, but a great collective undertaking born of the defeat at Hakusukinoe in 663, when the alliance between Yamato and the survivors of Baekje was broken by the forces of Tang and Silla. Fearing invasion, the court had the Mizuki embankment raised in 664, followed in 665 by the fortresses of Ōno and Ki, the latter to the south. The Nihon shoki names the Baekje dignitaries sent to direct the work, making Ōno direct evidence of the transfer of military expertise from the Korean peninsula. The enclosure of about 6.6 km doubles to the north and south, bringing the total length of the ramparts to nearly 8 km: rammed earth along the ridges, stone in the valleys, where the Hyakken wall runs for about 200 m. Nine gates have now been identified, the last five since 2003, and more than 70 buildings, for the most part raised storehouses on a grid plan, are spread across seven groups. Never attacked, according to Japan's Ministry of Land, the fortress was repaired in 698, received tiled roofs in the Nara period and in 774 housed the Shiōin, dedicated to the Four Heavenly Kings, which gave the mountain its name. The site is explored on foot from the prefectural forest centre.
