https://komichi.app/_next/static/chunks/6212.b9fdc659617ae99e.js

1!function(){try{var e="u">typeof window?window:"u">typeof global?global:"u">typeof globalThis?globalThis:"u">typeof self?self:{},a=(new e.Error).stack;a&&(e._sentryDebugIds=e._sentryDebugIds||{},e._sentryDebugIds[a]="d88f75de-feec-4b96-9789-14e3907f09ad",e._sentryDebugIdIdentifier="sentry-dbid-d88f75de-feec-4b96-9789-14e3907f09ad")}catch(e){}}();"use strict";(self.webpackChunk_N_E=self.webpackChunk_N_E||[]).push([[6212],{46212:(e,a,t)=>{t.r(a),t.d(a,{default:()=>i});var s=t(62021),n=t(29288);function o(e){let a={em:"em",h2:"h2",h3:"h3",p:"p",...(0,n.R)(),...e.components},{PlaceBlogEmbedding:t}=a;return t||function(e,a){throw Error("Expected "+(a?"component":"object")+" `"+e+"` to be defined: you likely forgot to import, pass, or provide it.")}("PlaceBlogEmbedding",!0),(0,s.jsxs)(s.Fragment,{children:[(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["When you visit a Japanese castle, what do you look at? Most people head straight for the main keep (",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"tenshu"}),") — the tall central tower. But the stone walls beneath it are just as worth a close look."]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Here's a guide to a world hiding in plain sight: the stone walls of Japanese castles."}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"The stacking method reveals when a wall was built"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Japanese castle walls fall into three broad construction styles, each tied to a different era."}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.h3,{children:["Stacked as found (",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"Nozura-zumi"}),")"]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Natural, largely unshaped stones stacked with minimal processing. This method was dominant through the early Sengoku period — Japan's roughly 150-year era of civil war that ended around 1600. The gaps between stones make the wall easier to climb, a real weakness, but they also drain water exceptionally well."}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.h3,{children:["Faces hammered flat before stacking (",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"Uchikomi-hagi"}),")"]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"This method spread after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 — the decisive battle that effectively ended the civil war era and set the stage for the Tokugawa shogunate's 250-year rule. Stones were hammered to create flatter contact surfaces before stacking, giving the wall more stability and a noticeably neater appearance."}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.h3,{children:["Stones cut to eliminate all gaps (",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"Kirikomi-hagi"}),")"]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"The most labor-intensive method: stones were shaped so precisely that almost no gaps remained. This produced the strongest of the three wall types and appears from the early Edo period (starting around 1615), once Japan had entered a long era of peace and castle-building had become as much about prestige as defense."}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"After 1605, castle corners get a telltale feature"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Beyond the stacking style, the corners of a stone wall offer an even more precise way to date a castle."}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"The short version: if the corner stones alternate between long and short, the castle dates from 1605 or later."}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["Corners are structurally the weakest point of any stone wall, and how a mason reinforced them was a mark of skill. By alternating long and short stones at the corner, each stone gets locked in place from above and below by its neighbors, binding the whole corner into a single unit. This technique is called ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"sangi-zumi"}),", and its now-standard form was established around 1605."]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"Stones stacked by hand, yet perfectly aligned"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Even as more industrial cutting techniques advanced, one group of masons kept building walls a completely different way."}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["They're known as the Anō-shū, stonemasons based in what is now Sakamoto, in Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture. Their specialty was ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"nozura-zumi"}),' — stacking natural, unmodified stones — but with an extraordinary eye for each stone\'s shape, weight, and natural fracture lines, deciding by feel which face should show. Their technique is often described as "listening to the stone."']}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"When the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake struck, around 50 sections of Kumamoto Castle's stone walls collapsed. But the sections that fell were almost entirely ones repaired during the Meiji era (1868–

11912). The original walls, built roughly 400 years earlier by the castle's lord, Kato Kiyomasa, largely survived intact. Sakamoto still has Anō-shū walls standing today — you can see them simply by walking through the town."}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(t,{href:"/places/23c8830a-8b61-4b8b-81f6-ca3d8dc9e011"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"An upside-down statue, buried inside a stone wall"}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["Look closely at a stone wall and sometimes you'll spot something that isn't stone at all — at least, not ordinary building stone. Temple gravestones, Buddhist statues, and ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"gorintō"})," (five-tiered memorial towers) occasionally turn up embedded in castle walls. These repurposed stones are called ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"tenyō-seki"}),"."]}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:['At Yamato-Koriyama Castle in Nara, a Buddhist statue is embedded upside down in the base of the main keep. It\'s known as the "Upside-Down Jizo," and you can still see it today. Fukuchiyama Castle in Kyoto, built by the warlord Akechi Mitsuhide, contains over 500 repurposed stones, including ',(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"gorintō"})," bases."]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Why were these placed upside down? No single explanation has been confirmed. Theories range from a deliberate show of dominance over the temples of a defeated rival power, to simple shortages of proper building stone, to a ritual meant to seal away evil spirits. Given how often the upside-down placement recurs across different castles, many historians lean toward some kind of ritual significance."}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(t,{href:"/places/0de08ec4-5c18-47f4-995e-8b136ab7a306"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(t,{href:"/places/6a0bd3b4-5c09-4ff1-b7fe-4b5b99e67b1b"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"The higher it gets, the steeper it gets"}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["Kumamoto Castle's stone walls are known by another name: ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"musha-gaeshi"}),', or "warrior repeller." Seen from the ground, the slope looks gentle — but the angle steepens the higher you climb, gradually pulling an attacker\'s center of gravity outward until their own weight sends them tumbling back down.']}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:'The design belongs to Kato Kiyomasa (1562–1611), a warlord sometimes called the "god of civil engineering." Kiyomasa learned the value of tall, well-designed walls firsthand during a grueling siege defense in Japan\'s invasions of Korea, and he completed Kumamoto Castle in 1607.'}),"\n",(0,s.jsxs)(a.p,{children:["Proof that the design still worked 270 years later came during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Samurai forces armed with modern firearms laid siege to Kumamoto Castle, but even after more than 50 days of continuous assault, the walls held. Nearly three centuries after it was built, ",(0,s.jsx)(a.em,{children:"musha-gaeshi"})," was still keeping out a modern army."]}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(t,{href:"/places/aedcfaed-fed1-4f8f-805f-0f29b42be193"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.h2,{children:"In closing"}),"\n",(0,s.jsx)(a.p,{children:"Next time you visit a Japanese castle, start with the corners of the stone wall. If you see long and short stones alternating, it dates from 1605 or later. If the stones look irregular and roughly stacked, you might be looking at something that goes all the way back to the age of civil war."})]})}function i(e={}){let{wrapper:a}={...(0,n.R)(),...e.components};return a?(0,s.jsx)(a,{...e,children:(0,s.jsx)(o,{...e})}):o(e)}}}]);