Hanamaki Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Hanamaki Castle occupies the site of a medieval Hienuki stronghold called Toyagasaki. It passed to the Nanbu after 1591, became one of the centres of the southern Morioka domain and kept this role until the end of the Edo period. The city distinguishes three zones: the honmaru, seat of a palace; the ninomaru, where administrative facilities were concentrated; and the sannomaru, occupied by samurai residences. Archaeology has identified moats, earthen banks, stone walls, wells and post holes, and the site is now shared between Toyagasaki Park and the urban fabric of the Jōnai, Hanashiro and Nakamachi districts. Excavations carried out by the city are renewing the understanding of the monument. In 2018-2019, foundation stones and a band of cobbles interpreted as an eaves-drip zone were associated with the honmaru palace, which rests on a fill 50 to 80 cm thick laid over a layer from the Toyagasaki period. The 2025 campaign focused on the honmaru entrance, where a masugata of about 20 × 5 m was probably lined with stone; its east side shows Anō-type masonry that the city dates to the end of the Tenshō era. Visible remains are limited: the Nishi-gomon gate rebuilt in 1995, the surviving Enjōji gate, a time bell of 1646 and, in the sannomaru, a samurai house of the Itō family.