Namioka Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Namioka Castle lies north of the river of the same name, at the end of an alluvial fan, at a junction of routes linking the Tsugaru region with the Sotogahama coast. The designated area covers about 13.6 hectares. It stands apart from neighbouring strongholds held by the Nanbu or the Andō through an extensive system of moats, doubled or tripled in places and divided by earthen banks; now dry, they originally held water. Eight independent platforms have been recorded, seven of them named: Shindate, Higashidate, Sarugakudate, Kitadate, Uchidate, Nishidate and Kengyōdate. Each contained post-built structures, semi-subterranean dwellings and wells, suggesting as many adjoining residential units. The site is associated with the Namioka Kitabatake, who traced their descent to the family of Kitabatake Chikafusa through conflicting genealogies. Their residence here is attested from the late fifteenth to the late sixteenth century, but objects from the late twelfth century show a much earlier occupation. Weakened by the internal crisis of 1562, the house lost the castle in 1578, when it was taken by Ōura Tamenobu. Excavations have yielded around 40,000 objects, including some 16,000 ceramics, more than half of them Chinese, as well as tea-related utensils. Laid out as a historical park, the site preserves no old standing buildings; the visible palisades are proposed reconstructions.