Castle restoration project stalled by lack of blueprints
City offers reward for information about design of a samurai clan’s 16th-century seat of power
A local government in northern Japan is appealing for blueprints, photographs and floor plans of a 16th-century castle that once dominated the strategically important city of Morioka, as it hopes to restore the tower and a series of walls to their previous glory.
The city authorities have set up a project office to oversee the ambitious plan, with officials scouring local historical organisations, museums, shrines and temples for any documents that might shed light on the exact dimensions of the castle.
It was built over 36 years from 1597 but subsequently badly damaged by fire a year after completion, and was eventually knocked down in 1874.
The research had already uncovered some 50 documents that can provide references for the original building, said Yoshihiro Kikuchi, a senior member of the project team. However, as only a few were of real help, the city announced a reward for anyone with information that provided a fuller picture of how the castle looked in its heyday.
“Most of the buildings of Morioka Castle were demolished in 1874 and no one has direct knowledge of those days,” Kikuchi said. “Even if materials were created at the time, they may not have survived to the present day. They may have been lost during relocations or when buildings were renovated, they may also have been lost in disasters, such as floods and fires.”
Kikuchi said he ideally hopes to find old photos or blueprints that show the castle’s design and detail the exact size and location of all buildings within its walls.
In September the city offered 10 million yen (HK$580,000) for documentation that would make a decisive contribution to the project. There was an immediate response from across the region and beyond, Kikuchi said.
Regrettably, he said, none of the new data that has so far emerged has proved to be the critical key to solving the precise dimensions of the castle. Yet he is far from downhearted and insists the team will keep looking.
Modern-day Morioka was traditionally the seat of the Nanbu clan, samurai warriors who ruled over a large swathe of the Tohoku region of northern Japan for hundreds of years. The castle dominated the valley of the Kitakami River, which starts in the surrounding mountains and flows south towards Edo, now known as Tokyo.
The castle and surrounding community also controlled the strategic Oshu Kaido highway to the far north of the country as well as a route that crossed the mountains to the Pacific Ocean to the east and the Sea of Japan to the west.
The region saw extensive fighting between rival clans as far back as the early Heian period (794-1185AD) until the Nanbu clan emerged victorious.
Historians suggest the castle’s design drew heavily on Nagoya Castle, which is hundreds of kilometres away, although disaster struck Morioka a year after its main structures were completed, with fire tearing through the wooden tenshu main keep.
It was never rebuilt, and the Nanbu clan used a three-storey tower and a network of other buildings within the castle walls until everything was dismantled in 1874, during the early Meiji era.
The site was opened to the public as a park in 1906 and, in 1934, the clan donated it to the city. Three years later, the ruins were designated as a national historical site.
A survey of local people in 2011 determined that most wanted the castle to be rebuilt as a symbol of the city. The aim, the city says, is to enhance the pride of local people in an eye-catching structure of historical importance and attract visitors to the region.