En un regard
Le château en bref
Mōka Castle (真岡城), also called Haga Castle, occupied a terrace in the Daimachi district of present-day Mōka, in the south-east of Tochigi Prefecture. It was the seat of the Haga clan, a powerful family of Utsunomiya retainers who controlled the Haga district. Tradition credits its founding to Haga Takasada, who is said to have moved his residence here from Gozen Castle around 1362; another account makes Haga Takatsugu the true builder, fortifying it around 1577 against the advance of the Hōjō. The castle followed a linear plan: four enclosures aligned from south to north, from the fourth enclosure up to the main one, separated by dry moats and ringed by lower terraces, with the main gate opening to the south. The Gogyō and Yukiya rivers fed the moat system. In 1597 the downfall of the Utsunomiya, ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, led to the abandonment of the stronghold; a shogunate intendant's office later occupied part of the site. Today Mōka Elementary School stands on the heart of the former castle, while Shiroyama Park, laid out on the fourth enclosure, preserves earthen ramparts and traces of moats and offers a view of the cherry trees along the Yukiya.
