Taki Castle (Residence of the Kitabatake)

En un regard

Le château en bref

At Taki (多気, also read Tage), in the Misugi mountains, the Kitabatake, governors of Ise Province, established a centre of power spread over three levels: a residence at around 320 metres above sea level, a fallback fortification at around 400 metres, and Kiriyama Castle, near the summit, at around 560 metres. The city of Tsu dates the construction of the whole complex to the first half of the fifteenth century, whereas other accounts have the clan arriving as early as the fall of Tamaru in 1342: the point remains debated. The residence burned in 1499 and was rebuilt the following year. Excavated continuously since 1996, the residence is organised into three terraces. The highest, now occupied by the Kitabatake Shrine, has yielded stone walls and buildings, and retains a garden whose tradition places its creation in the early sixteenth century. The finds, dominated by terracotta plates from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, confirm the intensity of the occupation. The death of Kitabatake Tomonori in 1576, on Nobunaga's orders, ended the clan's supremacy and the site's regional role. Kiriyama retains earthen ramparts and cutting ditches around two groups of enclosures.