was an early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

''jōsaku''-style Japanese castle located in what is now part of the city of

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

of far northern

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The site was proclaimed a National Historic Site of Japan in 1979.{{{cite web , url= http://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/160528, title=志波城跡 , language=Japanese , publisher=

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The ag ...

, accessdate=

Background

In the late

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō , , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki'' (� ...

'' system, the Yamato court sent a number of military expeditions to what later was designated

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

in northern Japan to bring the local

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean "shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contemp ...

tribes under its control.{{cite book , title=Cambridge History of Japan vol. II (p.31f.) , author=Shively, Donald H. , author2=McCullough, William H. , publisher=

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, year=1999 The Emishi were able to successfully resist the Japanese for several decades; however, in 802 AD, the '' Chinjufu-shōgun'' Sakanoue no Tamuramaro defeated Emishi chieftain Aterui, and many of the Emishi tribes in the Shiwa District submitted to Japanese rule. In 803 AD, Shiwa Castle, a large fortification with wooden walls, was established in what later became part of the city of

to serve as an administrative center of the imperial government. However, the site was prone to flooding, and in 811 AD, and Shiwa Castle was abandoned in favor of

Tokutan Castle was an early Heian period ''jōsaku''-style Japanese castle located in what is now the town of Yahaba, Iwate, Yahaba in Shiwa District, Iwate, Shiwa District, Iwate Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of far northern Honshū, Japan. The site was pro ...

approximately ten kilometers to the south.{{cite web, url=http://www.bunka.pref.iwate.jp/archive/cs2, title=Shiha Castle, work=Glossary of Iwate's Cultural Information, publisher=Iwate Prefecture, language=Japanese, accessdate=21 November 2019

Description

Shiwa Castle was a square enclosure, approximately {{convert, 840, m, sp=us on each side, consisting of an earthen

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

surmounted by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

, and protected by a dry moat measuring {{convert, 980, m, sp=us on each side. There was a gate at the center of each side facing each of the cardinal directions, with ''

yagura Yagura may refer to: * Yagura castle * Yagura opening * Yagura (tombs) * Yagura (tower) is the Japanese word for "tower", "turret", "keep", or "scaffold". The word is most often seen in reference to structures in Japanese castle compounds bu ...

'' watchtowers were erected at {{convert, 60, m, adj=on, sp=us intervals. Within was a secondary palisade roughly {{convert, 150, m, sp=us square, containing the 14 buildings making up the administrative compound. The palace compound was connected to the main south gate by a road {{convert, 18, m, sp=us in width. From the size of the foundations of the barracks and workshops, the garrison was between 1200 and 2000 men.Shiwa Castle on jcastle.info
/ref>

Current situation

A large scale archaeological investigation was conducted by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education from 1976 to 1977, in conjunction with the construction of the nearby Tōhoku Expressway. In 1991, the city of Morioka completed reconstructions of the south gate and palisade, along with faux reconstructions of the government administrative structures, and opened the site to the public as the {{nihongo, Shiwa Castle Ancient Park, 志波城古代公園}.

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{commons category
Iwate Prefectural Agency for Cultural Affairs
{{in lang, ja

{{in lang, ja 9th-century establishments in Japan Castles in Iwate Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Iwate Prefecture Heian period Morioka, Iwate Archaeological sites in Japan Archaeological parks Historic Sites of Japan Buildings and structures completed in 803

Background

Description

Current situation

See also

References

External links