Yuzuki Castle Ruins

The Castle of the Kono Clan at the Gateway to Dogo Onsen

The Yuzuki Castle Ruins (湯築城跡, Yuzukijo Ato) are the remains of the medieval castle of the Kono clan, military governors of Iyo Province, in Dogo Park, Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture, which in 2002 were designated a Historic Site.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs places the castle in eastern Matsuyama at the entrance to Dogo Onsen, where the southern tip of a ridge juts onto the alluvial fan on the right bank of the Ishite River.

It is a flat-hill castle shaped like a long rounded hexagon, 350 metres north to south and 295 metres east to west, built around a central hill rising 31 metres, with two moats each backed by an earthen bank.

The Kono Clan and Yuzuki Castle

According to the Agency, the Kono were a powerful family based in Ochi District of Iyo. They fought in the Genpei War, became vassals of the Kamakura shogunate, and counted among them Ippen, founder of the Ji school of Buddhism. Leading a navy against the Mongol invasions secured their standing in Iyo.

Matsuyama City says Kono Michimori built Yuzuki Castle in the Kenmu era (1334 to 1338). The Kono became military governors of Iyo in the Muromachi period, but internal strife weakened them in the Warring States period, and in 1585 they surrendered to Kobayakawa Takakage during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's invasion of Shikoku. The castle was soon abandoned.

Dogo Park explains that in the early fourteenth century it was a hilltop castle, and about two centuries later an outer moat was added, making it a flat-hill castle with double moats and banks.

Excavation and Significance

The Agency notes that the Matsuyama domain looked after the site in the Edo period, so the remains survived. It became the Dogo botanical garden in 1886 and prefectural Dogo Park in 1888, later housing a zoo. When the zoo moved out in 1987, excavation showed the remains were well preserved.

Excavations from 1988 to 1999 revealed four phases from the early sixteenth century on: residences with gardens in the southeast, eight plots of retainers' houses in the southwest, and an inner moat separating them from the hill. Large quantities of imported celadon and blue-and-white porcelain were found.

The layout matched an Edo-period plan of the old castle. Matsuyama City calls it one of the most important sites of a medieval governor's castle in Japan.

Visiting the Yuzuki Castle Ruins

The Yuzuki Castle Ruins are laid out as Dogo Park and can be explored freely. The Yuzuki Castle Museum in the park presents the excavations, the history of the Kono and the life of samurai in the castle, with panels and finds.

Dogo Park says visitors can follow a route past the outer and inner moats, earthen banks and reconstructed samurai residences. Enquiries go to the Yuzuki Castle Museum office, 089-941-1480.