Hotta Fort (Hotta no Saku)

En un regard

Le château en bref

No ancient text names this vast establishment with certainty, and specialists describe it as a site without a name or written record. Its rediscovery began with buried timbers reported in 1902, followed by the excavations of 1930, which uncovered the south gate of the outer palisade; the following year it became the prefecture's first national historic site. Since 1974 the prefectural research office has carried out a long-term excavation here, reaching 148 campaigns in 2014. Dendrochronology gives 801 as the felling date of the outer palisade's timbers, which places the foundation in the early 9th century. Its identification remains debated: several hypotheses circulate, including Okachi Fort (雄勝城, or its second location) and Kawabe-fu (河辺府), none of which has prevailed. The administrative centre, on Nagamori hill, was rebuilt four times, in five phases, and remained in use for nearly two centuries. Its enclosure reached its greatest extent in phase III and shrank in the last phase. Three belts originally nested within one another: an elliptical outer palisade of 1,370 m by 780 m, an intermediate enclosure of 765 m by 320 m and the fence of the administrative centre. The outer palisade was abandoned around the mid-9th century, after the earthquakes of 830 and 850, and the earthen wall of the intermediate enclosure gave way to a wooden palisade. Some administrative areas remained active until the end of the 10th century.