塙城(南城)跡

The empty moat in the north is wonderful.

There are two castle ruins in the north and south, it is an empty moat, but it is introduced in the rare castle ruins and literature.

I think it is a very unusual structure. The characteristic is that there is a book and north. Your feet should be at least sneakers...

The path to the castle wall is poor. The road was wide enough for people to pass through, and I wondered how the water was carried along this road in this area under the control of Toki.

It is said that it is a castle related to Toki, but it is not clear. There are no information boards, so it's hard to go ?

You can see plenty of untouched remains such as large-scale cuts and vertical moats, but it seems to be behind a private house and maintenance and investigation are not so advanced.

When asked, "Is it worth going to see?", I would answer, "Run and go to see!" There are not so many remains that lose their words the moment they see them. It really looks like this "○ ❌ ▲ □ ♨️ !?" (laughs). Hanawa Castle consists of the traditional main Kuruwa part with a residential function and the forward base "North Kuruwa" located in the highlands across the valley, but the structure of this North Kuruwa is terrible. The earthworks and the empty moat are arranged doubly, but this is not a straight line but a zigzag structure with complicated folds. I've never seen such a defense facility in another castle. It is a common structure to cut the empty moat in double and triple to block the approach road so that the enemy does not invade along the ridge in Yamashiro, but this is obviously not a defensive purpose, and the enemy is positively It is intended to give a blow to. The dreadful thing is that the depth, arrangement, and length of the earthworks and empty moat are optimized so that the blind spots can be eliminated, the matchlock can be used for efficient crossfire, and the firepower can be maximized. This is the same idea as the "bastion" of the Western castle, isn't it? The person who planned, designed and constructed is not free. It's hard to believe that Mr. Toki, who is nothing more than a local Toki clan, created it with his own concept. This northern Kuruwa part seems to have been strengthened by Mr. Hojo in response to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's conquest of Odawara, so is it due to the dispatched engineer? For that reason, even Hojo castles have not yet discovered such an advanced device. It may have been experimentally set up in a rural area as a starting point for a new castle in the future. The remains are the efforts of the landowners, and now the obstructive bamboo trees and undergrowth have been cut, and the characteristic zigzag structure can be clearly seen. I really appreciate it! Because it is open to the public in favor of private land, please do not forget to consider that point.