En un regard
Le château en bref
On a ridge 384 metres above Bamba, on the border between southern and northern Ōmi, Kamaha Castle was buffeted between the Rokkaku and the Kyōgoku-Azai axis. Its founding is undated: the Imai gunki records an attack in 1472, which suggests that it existed by the time of the Ōnin War. The Hori, who held it, changed sides several times, sided with the Azai in 1559, and then in 1570 joined Oda Nobunaga. The site measures roughly 400 metres from east to west and 500 from north to south, making it the largest in northern Ōmi after Odani.
Its significance lies above all in the way it was put out of use. After the Hori were dispossessed in 1574, excavations show that the tops of the stone walls had been toppled, the fortified gateways filled with stones, and the enclosures backfilled with earth. The Agency for Cultural Affairs' entry also notes the use of masugata koguchi, a large semi-subterranean building, and numerous iron nails. Contemporary documents state that 2,000 sacks of rice stored here were handed over to Tokugawa Ieyasu that same year. Nothing has been rebuilt on the ridge, which is reached by a mountain path from Bamba.
- Époque de construction
- Avant 1472 (date exacte inconnue)
- Localisation
- Maibara, Préfecture de Shiga
- Protection
- Site historique national (史跡) (2005)
- Accès au public
- Ouvert au public
- État
- En ruine
- Usage actuel
- Site archéologique, Sentier de randonnée
