Sakura Castle Ruins Park

 In July 2020, I went to Sakura castle Ruins Park because I wanted to see the remains of Sakura castle and some flowers. It is located in Sakura city in Chiba prefecture. The nearest station is Keisei-Sakura station on the Keisei line (about 20 minutes on foot) or JR line Sakura station (about 25 minutes on foot). Keisei-Sakura station is a little nearer than Sakura station. We can take a bus from both stations to the park. There are some parking areas in the park, but I don’t recommend taking a car because there may be full of the parking or the surrounding roads may be congested, especially in cherry blossom season and iris flower season.

 The park has a lot of nature so it was fun just to walk. But there are some slopes here, so we need some physical strength. There was a pond and a lot of water lily flowers were blooming. There is National Museum of Japanese History in the park too. I did not go here because I had no time, but I am very interested in it. This day was a holiday so there were a lot of people in the park. It may be better to enjoy it as a park with more nature than to see the castle ruins.

 Long time ago, there was unfinished castle on the plateau facing the Kashima River. This castle belonged to the Chiba Family. In 1611, Doi Toshikatsu, a very important vassal of Tokugawa shogunate, started to build the castle there and it was completed about six years later. The stone walls were not erected, instead it was built by taking advantage of the natural terrain, and there was the three-tiered castle tower on the southwest of the main enclosure.

 In July 2020, I went to Sakura Castle Ruins Park and I saw some remains. All that were left of the castle were: water moats (wet moats), dry moats, earthen ramparts and a pond. There were no buildings, for example, gates, turrets (called Yagura) nor the castle tower (called Tenshu). There were no stone walls either, because the castle had no stone walls from the beginning.

 As a Japanese castle defense method, sometimes a small enclosure was built outside the entrance to a castle. It was called Uma-dashi. This was to protect the entrance firmly, and it was surrounded by an earthen rampart and a moat. The enclosures (Uma-dashi) were concentrated in the Kantō region and the Tōkai region but they could hardly be seen in Western Japan. After the Meiji era, the enclosures (Uma-dashi) were removed because they hinder traffic. The enclosure (Uma-dashi) in Sakura castle is one of the few of its kind that still exists. It was restored by excavations.