En un regard
Le château en bref
The Shiraoi jin'ya is the fortified camp set up by the Sendai domain on the Pacific coast of Hokkaidō, at a time when the shogunate, concerned by Russian expansion, divided the defence of Ezo among Matsumae and several domains of northeastern Japan. In 1855 Sendai was given responsibility for a long eastern stretch of coast. Yūfutsu had first been considered for the main post, but the reconnaissance mission recommended Shiraoi. Work began in 1856; the ridgepole was raised in the ninth month of that year and the completion ceremony was held in 1857. Some 120 men lived there on annual rotation, housed in barracks, until the withdrawal of 1868 brought about by the Boshin War. The local administrator Kusakari Untarō took his own life shortly after the garrison left.
The camp made use of the terrain: hills surrounded it on three sides and watercourses served as natural moats, supplemented by earthen ramparts. The inner enclosure held the headquarters, accounting offices and storehouses, the outer enclosure the barracks and training hall. The Shiogama and Atago shrines overlooked the whole, and a samurai cemetery survives outside the enclosure. The buildings were dismantled in the Meiji period. Designated in 1966, the site has been gradually developed by the town, and a museum opened in 1984 presents its history. A historic twinning has linked Shiraoi with the city of Sendai since 1981.
