Moto-Sakura Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Before Sakura became the Tokugawa town, it was a few kilometres away, on a plateau once lapped by the waters of the Katori inland sea, that the last century of the Chiba clan's power played out. Moto-Sakura was born of the crisis opened by the Kyōtoku War: after the main branch disappeared, Iwahashi Suketane and then his son Takatane moved the family seat from Chiba to this height during the Bunmei era. The prefecture describes ten enclosures here over about 34 hectares, and excavations led by the town of Shisui between 1990 and 1994 showed that the ramparts and moats are very well preserved. A prefectural document also records on Shiroyama two large post-built structures, presumed to be a palace and a reception hall, along with a garden, a watchtower and a mass of earthenware cups suggesting banquets. This court life also accounts for the renown of the Sakura poetry circle. In the sixteenth century the influence of the Hōjō grew steadily heavier: Odawara-type ceramics, red seals, a marriage alliance, and finally a takeover with Hōjō Naoshige. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign of 1590 swept the clan away. There is no building to see today, but ramparts, dry moats and bent entrances can be explored on foot.