Kurobane Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

On the narrow tip of a spur overlooking the Naka River, Kurobane Castle stretches about 1,500 m north to south and 250 m across, making it the largest mountain castle in the north of the prefecture according to the city of Ōtawara. It is nothing like a stone fortress: its defenses consist mainly of dry moats, a few of them water-filled, and earthen ramparts. The site is closely tied to the Ōzeki, who settled here in 1576 under Ōzeki Takamasu and never left. They remained in the same place for nearly three centuries, with no change of fief or confiscation, and the city highlights how well the family's archives have survived. This continuity also shows in a picture: in 1837, Koizumi Ayaru painted, at the domain's request, a bird's-eye view of the town and castle, now a municipal cultural property, showing samurai residences, the river port, granaries and Daiyū-ji temple, which served as a defensive position when needed. The poet Matsuo Bashō stayed fourteen days at Kurobane in 1689, the longest stop on his journey north according to Wikipedia. Today's park, famous for its hydrangeas, preserves moats and ramparts around the former honmaru; the museum devoted to Bashō occupies part of the San-no-maru.