Nagoya Castle Warehouse Archeological Excavation Results.
New information revealed and historical documents verified
Nagoya Castle was one of Japan’s finest samurai castles ever constructed. Its layout, the quality of its structure’s architecture and its reputation were among the greatest of all castles. It was one of the very few to survive the Meiji period (1868-1912) demolition of most samurai castles, and went on to become the first castle to be designated a National Treasure in 1930. So fine was its central Honmaru Goten Palace, that prior to the 1930’s, the Meiji, Taisho and Showa Emperors used it as a summer holiday resort. Unfortunately, World War Two aerial bombing destroyed not only the city of Nagoya but its symbol too. Nagoya Castle was mostly destroyed by incendiary bombing and reduced to ashes. Even then, there are more surviving records, maps, even old photographic evidence of Nagoya Castle than any other samurai castle.
Construction of Nagoya Castle commenced in late 1609, when the first layout was formed with wooden pegs and ropes marking out where the moats, gates, walls and main structures would go. Within six months, the outer, central, and innermost moats had been dug, and all of the stone walling completed! Within the next ten months, Nagoya Castle’s huge tenshu tower keep and sub keep were completed and the castle was in operation. Over the next half a year most of the castle was done. The following few years saw various smaller jobs being undertaken, such as the gorgeous interior artworks for the Honmaru Goten palace etc.
Like a city, a castle was forever undergoing changes through updates and repairs, and while many of these changes were recorded in diaries and archives, a great deal more were not. Often, the basic positioning of a gate or a structure was known, but until archeological excavations are carried out, the true position, or even if such a structure was actually completed or not remained a mystery.
Researchers at Nagoya Castle recently undertook an archeological excavation, this time within the grounds of the west side Nishi-no-maru compound, which from the end of the war until now had contained a plum grove. During the Edo period, Nagoya Castle’s Nishi-no-maru area was known as Okura-ga-mae, the “Area Before the Great Granaries”, as it once housed six very large kome-gura, rice storehouses. Old maps and documents remain showing that the first five of the great storehouses were built between 1751 and 1774, and a sixth was constructed in 1834. The granaries stored on average around 30,000 koku of rice, kept bound in tawara bales as unhulled rice.
One tawara bale contained around 18 liters of rice, and so we can assume that around 5,400,000 liters of rice was stored here. Basically, this rice was collected as a regional annual tax, it so was used for mostly as a form of finance. Partially for food, it was also used as payment of Owari clan samurai wages. Incidentally, there were an average of 7,170 samurai garrisoned at Nagoya Castle.
Following excavations on the site around ten years ago, the Sanban and Yonban Okura, the third and fourth great storehouses were recently reconstructed. While the exterior has been built in the traditional manner, the interior has been redeveloped to serve as a museum-like exhibition space and secure storage facility for various special displays, including National Important Cultural Item designated treasures, such as Nagoya Castle’s magnificent Honmaru Goten Palace’s surviving wall and sliding door art panels that escaped the destruction of WWII aerial firebombing. Recent exhibitions have featured a matchlock gun and accessory collection, rarely seen remaining shachihoko tiger-fish rooftop ornaments from Nagoya Castle’s various yagura watchtowers, samurai armour and weapons amongst others.
The Niban and Goban, second and fifth Okura were demolished between 1893 and 1879. Okuras one, three four and six remained in use until 1900 as storage areas for the Japanese Imperial Army, who had taken over Nagoya Castle and used it as a military base. In 1915, the area was to be used for a special exhibition space regarding the Emperor Taisho’s reign and so all the then extant storehouses were demolished. After the exhibition had ended, the army then had other related buildings constructed on the site. While the structures themselves were pulled down, the soseki foundation stones were left in place allowing a wealth of information to be gleaned. This recent excavation also revealed the size and outline of the old military structures too.
The recent excavations confirmed not only the presence of the granaries, but the exact size and positions of each. Looking at the uncovered stones around the base of the number six storehouse for example, researchers were able to determine the positions of the doors, and even the locations of internal support pillars, providing an idea of the architectural styles used. The excavations also revealed the flagstones for an earlier Edo period gate used to prevent access and protect the Nishi-no-maru.
As the investigation is completed, the site evidence carefully recorded, photographed and all information collated, the excavated site has now been covered over again. According to the Nagoya Castle Research Center, the excavation was a success, and although the further rebuilding of the warehouses is not being planned (funds are being allocated first to the authentic reconstruction of Nagoya Castle’s keep, expected to be officially announced in March next year) the work has revealed another side, and another story regarding Edo period samurai castle operations.