Masuyama Castle

Overview

Masuyama Castle (増山城, Masuyama-jō) was a yamashiro (山城, yama-jiro), a mountain castle, built in the Muromachi period (1336–1573) in what is now part of the city of Tonami in Toyama Prefecture, on the Hokuriku coast of Honshu. It was founded in 1394, the first year of the Ōei era (応永, Ōei). The castle is also known by the alternative name Wada Castle (和田城, Wada-jō). Its ruins have been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 2009.

History

Masuyama Castle was established in 1394, at the opening of the Ōei era. That dating places its foundation in the early Muromachi period, when the Ashikaga shogunate governed from Kyoto and warrior houses across the provinces were fortifying ridge lines and hilltops rather than building the flatland castles of later centuries. A yamashiro of this kind relied on the terrain itself — steep slopes, cut terraces and earthen ramparts — rather than on stone walls and tall keeps.

The castle stood in Tonami, a district in the Hokuriku region, the belt of provinces along the Sea of Japan coast. The site's position on high ground above the surrounding country is characteristic of the mountain forts of the period, which combined a defensive stronghold with watch over the routes below.

The ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 2009, recognising the surviving earthworks as a monument of national importance.

What Stands There Today

What survives at Masuyama is the outline of the mountain fort itself: the earthworks, terraced ground and ridge-top layout of a yamashiro, preserved as an archaeological site rather than as a reconstructed castle. There is no surviving keep or palace building to visit. The National Historic Site designation of 2009 protects the site in recognition of those remains.

The Name in Japanese

The castle's name is written 増山城. In kana it is read ますやまじょう, and in romaji Masuyama-jō.

• 増 (read here as ます, masu) — "increase", "add to". This is the first element of the place name Masuyama.
• 山 (read here as やま, yama) — "mountain". Together, 増山 (Masuyama) is the name of the locality, and the character 山 signals the castle's setting on high ground.
• 城 (read here as じょう, jō) — "castle". This is the standard suffix in Japanese castle names, as in 姫路城 (Himeji-jō) or 松本城 (Matsumoto-jō). Note that the same character can also be read しろ (shiro) when it stands alone.

The alternative name, Wada Castle, is written 和田城 (Wada-jō): 和 (wa) and 田 (da, "rice field") form the place name Wada, with the same castle suffix 城.

A note on the reading of 城: in compound castle names the character takes the voiced sound jō rather than shiro, so the name is Masuyama-jō, not Masuyama-shiro. The macron in jō marks a long vowel; the kana じょう is written with the small ょ plus う.

Visiting and Context

Masuyama Castle lies within the present-day city of Tonami in Toyama Prefecture, in the Hokuriku region. Its ruins are a National Historic Site, designated in 2009. The site is a mountain castle, so the visit is to the earthworks and the terrain of a Muromachi-period fort rather than to standing buildings.

For readers of Japanese, the castle's name offers a compact lesson in how castle names are built: a place name (増山) plus the suffix 城 read jō. The same pattern recurs across Japan, and recognising it makes castle names on maps and signboards far easier to read. The alternative name 和田城 shows the pattern applied to a second place name for the same site.