Fortress Japanese Castles 1540-1640 Sttqr MenTurnbull - Illustrated by Peter DennisContents Introduction bpaese ater rior cont Chronology Design and development of the Japanese castle ‘The fe ann cdr “The gels ona “The moditon of one Th entopet ot ove beeps er Rare Thefts Elements and features of the Japanese castle Te orl yout The ce walle nd» Ce omar The te erp Dung eT once troa Mn on earn rapa bonbarme The living site Daly ie nthe itn pesca The ate zn a penstine +The ca a ce "he preparation lor wa Food and was Peleg preset The operational history of Japanese castles tty yn» Ses yeti epro+ pra ie aero ne Aftermath Japanese castles today Bibliography and further reading Glossary Index 21 40 49 55Tisch ois resped men te Simecde tera ‘Scorer overs oe ripen Introduction Japanese castles a8 we sce them today are not only final products of a long ‘proces of mltry evolution, bu also evidence of military evolution Inthe later half ofthe 16s century Japanese warlare was transformed. Ie changed ftom an activity characterised by the use of loosely organised troops wielding bows and arows and defending largely wooden fortifications, to one that tnvolved welllsciplined Infantry unit armed with guns fighting from castles of stone, The similarities tothe military revoition that was taking place in Europe at the same time are striking, Dut until the beginning of this period ‘thre had been no cultural contact between Japan and Europe. ‘Contact was made when a Portuguese sip was tecked on the Japanese coast in 1843, and the two cultures soon began to realise how thelr widely Sepurated worlds had been evolving in roughly similar ways. Hoth were experiencing warfare on a lager scale than ever before, which required the development of stiong intemal army organisation and good discipline, and both were seeing a move towards a preference for fighting an foot. Yet there were also some fascinating differences, atthe same time that the European knight was giving up his lance for the pistol, the mounted samural was abandoning his bow fora spear. TS However, it isn the field of cates and fortifications that both similarities and differences ae found in the greatest abundance. Italian visitors to Oda Nobunaga's castle of Azuchi in 1579 compared. favourably. with any contemporary European fortress, and remarked particularly an the richness of the decorations and the strength of the stone walls As none of these carly visitors were miltary men, rather merchants or priests, they cannot be expected to have commented upon Japanese castes from a postion of technical knowledge, but fs abundantly clear fom the impression given to them by the walls of Azuch, Osaka and Edo, all of which were enthusiastically described in contemporary Jest wings, that they were making comparisons With existing structures in Spain or fay So what were they actually comparing the Japanese cates ta? By the smid-16th century the huge sloping stone walls that surrounds Verona Sienna for Rome had become a recognised and vital part of the townseape of & succesful city. They were the defining features of the trace Halieme, the fortification style characterised by the use of the angle bastion, which was designed for artery warfare and was the most important architectural Snnovaton since the arch. The walls of fortresses such at Osaka certainly had much in common with the European system, but what the vistors Gi not Know was that these curiously similar structures had a completely ferent developmental history, were built in a completely diferent way, and were ‘designed to withstand attacks of a completely diferent nature. The pages that follow will offer a detailed discession on these points, all of which went towards making the Japanese castle into a unigue form of defensive architecture that acknowledged is own culture and tradition, yet responded imaginatively to changing conaltions of warfare. Like those #9 Contemporary Europe, Japanese castles experienced conflict on huge scale Wher al the theory bend them was tested to destruction in halla centuty of Here civil wa Japanese castles in their historical context By the time that the fst stone walls began to appear around Japanese castes, an innovation that can be seen from about 1550 onwards, Japan ad alzexdy experienced intermittent bouts of cil war for almost 1,000 years The key 0 ‘understanding the reasons for such contlcts, and the nature of the Japanese castles that arose in response to them, involves an appreciation of Japan's physleal Isolation ffom continental Asia. This protacted her from some Sanger, so that while China and Korea were being ravaged by the Mongol hho in the 13th century, ie was comparatively peaceful in Japan, Attempts to lnvade Japan were repulsed in 1274 and 1281, but this splenéid isolation also meant that Japan could not expand into her neighbour’ teritorles to acquire more culiable land, something that Japan was desperately short of A the strugle for land gree, the possession of military force was the best guarantor of securing new lands’ and of then defending them against ‘apacious neighbours, The establishment of the rule of the shogun (miltary dictator) after the tslumph of the Minamoto family in the Gempel Wars of 1180-85 proviged some measure of stability amid the vals, but invading Mongols, rebellious “emperor (who rorented the pursly ceremonial role forced pom thei red fotfice by the shagun), family leaders whose wealth rivaled that of the shogun, peasant revolts and fierce religious fanatics all played thelr par in disrupting the theoretical calm, In 1467 the Onin Wat, so called from the mengo (year period) in which it Began, broke out between fo rival samurai clans. Kyoto the Japanese capital, was laid waste and among the smouldering ruins of places and temples lay the blackened remain of shogunal prestige. Hom this time on any centalised authority that was left counted for lite aginst the naked miltary might ofthe ape (great ames) asthe rival warlords termed