En un regard
Le château en bref
The remains of Fukushima Castle lie in Aiuchi, in the former village of Shiura now part of Goshogawara, in the north of the Tsugaru Peninsula. This vast fortified site is associated with the Andō clan, which in the Middle Ages controlled the port of Tosaminato, one of the great trading hubs of northern Japan. The complex has two parts: an almost square inner enclosure about 200 metres on each side, surrounded by moats and earthen ramparts on all four sides, and a triangular outer enclosure whose sides each approach one kilometre. To the east, a natural ravine was reshaped into large embankments and moats. The total area is about 62 hectares. Excavations carried out by Aomori Prefecture between 2005 and 2009 revealed, in the inner enclosure, a warrior residence enclosed by a palisade, with a main building featuring an inner gate, an open plaza and possibly a pond. Its layout seems to imitate the residences of the Ashikaga shoguns, a sign of the ties the Andō maintained with the Muromachi government. Today no buildings survive, but the earthworks remain clearly visible in the landscape.
