Nagahama Castle (Izu)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Shizuoka

Nagahama Castle (長浜城) in Numazu should not be confused with its namesake in Shiga Prefecture: it is a small coastal fortress perched on a promontory some thirty metres high jutting into Uchiura Bay, at the head of Suruga Bay, with the sea on its east, west and north sides. Its main role was to protect the Omosu (Shigesu) anchorage, base of the Later Hōjō fleet facing the Takeda navy across the bay. Documents attest to it from 1579, when the naval commander Kajiwara Kagemune, recruited from Kii Province, was stationed there; in 1580 the rival fleets clashed in Suruga Bay. Excavations have shown that the site was already occupied by the late 15th century before being remodelled in the second half of the 16th century. During the Odawara campaign of 1590 the Hōjō navy withdrew and the castle lost its function. About a hundred metres long, it consists of four terraced enclosures, moats and earthen walls, with no keep. A National Historic Site since 1988, it was laid out as a historical park opened in 2015.