Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle

Overview

Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle (吉田郡山城, Yoshida-Kōriyama-jō) is a ruined mountain castle in the town of Akitakata, in the mountains north of Hiroshima. It was founded in 1336, the first year of the Engen era (延元, Engen), at the opening of the Muromachi period (1336–1573). The site is also known as Aki-Kōriyama Castle (安芸郡山城, Aki-Kōriyama-jō), taking its name from Aki Province (安芸国, Aki no kuni), the old province that covered the western part of what is now Hiroshima Prefecture. The castle is counted among the 100 Fine Castles of Japan (日本100名城, Nihon 100 Meijō), a list maintained by the Japanese Castle Foundation. Its ruins have been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1940.

History

The castle was built in 1336, the year the Muromachi shogunate was taking shape under Ashikaga Takauji. It sits on a ridge at roughly 34.67° north, 132.71° east, above the Yoshida basin. For most of its life it was the seat of the Mōri (毛利) family, the warrior house that would eventually control much of western Japan. From this mountain the Mōri grew from regional lords into one of the great powers of the Sengoku period (戦国時代, Sengoku jidai, the "Warring States" era of civil war).

The castle's most famous moment came in the Siege of Koriyama (郡山城の戦い, Kōriyama-jō no tatakai). The Mōri defender Mōri Motonari held the castle against the Amago (尼子) clan, whose forces had marched west from Izumo Province to break Mōri power. The siege is the event for which the site is chiefly remembered, and it is the reason the castle appears so often in accounts of the period. After the Mōri moved their base down to the plains, the mountain castle was abandoned, and its walls and compounds were left to the forest.

What Stands There Today

What survives is a mountain castle ruin rather than a rebuilt keep. The ridge is cut by a long sequence of kuruwa (曲輪, baileys or enclosed terraces), carved one above another up the slope, with earthen ramparts and dry moats (空堀, karabori) still legible in the ground. Stone walls remain in places, though much of the fortification was earthwork rather than masonry. Because the site has been a National Historic Site since 1940, the earthworks have been protected from development and are maintained as a public historic park.

The summit commands a wide view over the Yoshida basin, which is precisely why the position was chosen. Walking the ridge means climbing through the same sequence of terraces that a defending force would have held, from the lower compounds up to the main enclosure. The site is one of the stops associated with the 100 Fine Castles of Japan, and it is a standard destination for visitors tracing Mōri Motonari's career.

The Name in Japanese

The castle's name is written 吉田郡山城. It is read よしだこおりやまじょう in kana, and romanised as Yoshida-Kōriyama-jō. The name is a stack of four kanji, and each one carries its own meaning.

吉 — read yoshi here. It means "good fortune", "luck" or "auspicious". It is a very common element in Japanese place names and personal names, and it appears in the name of the basin the castle overlooks.

田 — read da here (the character is ta on its own). It means "rice paddy" or "field". Combined, 吉田 (Yoshida) is a frequent Japanese surname and place name meaning something like "lucky paddy" — a good field, or a field with a fortunate name.

郡 — read kōri here. It means "district" or "county", an administrative unit used in Japan since ancient times. In this name it is the first element of 郡山.

山 — read yama here. It means "mountain". Together, 郡山 (Kōriyama) means "district mountain" — the mountain of the district. Note that the same two characters can be read Kōriyama or Koriyama depending on the convention used; the long ō reflects the Japanese pronunciation.

城 — read jō here. It means "castle". It is the standard suffix attached to the name of any Japanese castle, and it is the character that tells a Japanese reader immediately what kind of place is being named.

So the full name breaks down as Yoshida (the locality) + Kōriyama (the mountain) + jō (castle): the castle on Kōriyama in Yoshida. The alternative name, 安芸郡山城 (Aki-Kōriyama-jō), simply swaps the local place name for the province name, Aki, to distinguish this castle from other places called Kōriyama elsewhere in Japan.

Visiting and Context

The castle stands in Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, in the Yoshida area. It is a mountain site, reached on foot, and the walk up the ridge is the visit: there is no reconstructed keep or museum building to tour, only the terraces, moats and views. Sensible footwear matters more here than at a flat castle park.

For readers of Japanese, the site is a useful study case because its name contains four of the most productive characters in Japanese place naming: 吉, 田, 山 and 城. Learn 城 as jō and every castle name in the country becomes partly readable — 大阪城 (Ōsaka-jō), 姫路城 (Himeji-jō), 熊本城 (Kumamoto-jō). Learn 山 as yama and a large share of Japanese mountain and place names opens up as well. Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle is a good place to see those building blocks assembled into a single, historically weighty name.