One Castle Site, Designated by the State in 2004
Shimizuyama Castle Ruins (清水山城館跡, Shimizuyama Jokan Ato) lie in Shinasahi, Takashima District, Shiga Prefecture, and were designated by the state on 27 February 2004. The category is that of historic sites, places of scenic beauty and natural monuments.
The field for a managing body stands empty.
The Agency records the castle and residence site of a local family, in the north-west of the prefecture on the western shore of Lake Biwa.
Three Sites Making One
What is designated lies in 3 separate places.
The Agency records that the whole comprises the mountain castle site, the Shimizuyama site and the Hondoya site.
The castle stands in the south-east of a plateau, its main enclosure at about 210 metres above sea level. The Shimizuyama site spreads across the hillside below it, between 130 and 170 metres.
The Hondoya site lies west of that, at about 130 metres, beside a shrine to the tutelary deity of the family.
The Tatsumi canal joins a principal subject and an appendage under one name: a watercourse and the site of a store.
Here 3 sites stand alongside one another and are called one castle site together. The castle is high, the residential ground below it.
Ridged Dry Moats, Uncommon in This District
One form of defence is rarely met with hereabouts.
The Agency records ridged dry moats at 2 points: on the south face of the main enclosure, and among the enclosures to the north.
Such moats are cut as long narrow trenches ranged down a slope like furrows, hindering anyone who would move across it.
The record adds that this form is little seen in the district, and is thought to have come in through the influence of neighbouring powers from the 1560s onward.
At Futatsuzuka Kofun, building 3 stone chambers within one mound is called a matter of note. There the rarity lies in number.
Here it lies in technique brought from elsewhere, explained as the influence of another power.
Residential Plots Set Out Like a Chequerboard
The ground on the hillside is divided in regular squares.
Of the Shimizuyama site, the Agency records a roadway about 10 metres wide running north and south up from the foot of the hill, with enclosures on either side divided into squares by earthworks and paths, ranged like a chequerboard.
It continues that a well was found within each division, showing that they worked as units of daily living.
The Hondoya site likewise is ringed by a double ditch and bank, divided within by further ditches and banks, and a well is found in each division.
At the Takanawa Manor House, sets of rooms are ranged in echelon. Those are rooms within one building.
Here whole plots are ranged across a hillside. That each has its own well shows they were units in which people lived.
Visiting
The site lies in Shinasahi, Takashima District, Shiga Prefecture. The field for a managing body stands empty in the record.
The main enclosure measures about 55 metres east to west and 60 metres north to south, in the shape of an L.
Near its centre, a building on footing stones was found, with stone steps and the remains of a hearth: 6 bays by 5 on a north-south ridge, taken to have been a hall serving also for gatherings.
Finds include domestic and imported ceramics, metalwork and inkstones, most of them of the second and third quarters of the sixteenth century.
This is an open-air site, and whether and how it may be visited follows the arrangements of the local authority. Check before travelling.
Q&A
- When was the site designated?
- On 27 February 2004, by the state. The category is that of historic sites, places of scenic beauty and natural monuments.
- What does it comprise?
- The mountain castle site, the Shimizuyama site and the Hondoya site: three sites standing alongside one another.
- What are ridged dry moats?
- Long narrow trenches cut down a slope like furrows. The Agency notes that they are little seen in this district.
- How large is the main enclosure?
- About 55 metres east to west and 60 metres north to south, in the shape of an L.
- What is valued in it?
- That it is valuable for what it shows of local castles and residences of the warring-states period, and that excavation allows its date to be fixed.
Basic Information
| Name | Shimizuyama Castle Ruins (清水山城館跡, Shimizuyama Jokan Ato) |
|---|---|
| Location | Shinasahi, Takashima District, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Historic site, place of scenic beauty and natural monument; designated as an archaeological site rather than as a building or a work of art |
| Year Designated | 2004 (27 February), designated |
| Quantity | 1 castle site, comprising the mountain castle site, the Shimizuyama site and the Hondoya site |
| Dimensions | The castle has its main enclosure at about 210 metres above sea level, with enclosures ranged along ridges on 3 sides. That enclosure measures about 55 metres east to west and 60 metres north to south, in the shape of an L. The Shimizuyama site extends about 350 metres north to south and 550 metres east to west; the Hondoya site about 270 metres east to west and 180 metres north to south |
| Owner | The field for a managing body stands empty in the record |
| Public Access | An open-air site; visiting follows the arrangements of the local authority |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: Shimizuyama Castle Ruins
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/207253
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
- Takashima City: cultural properties
- https://www.city.takashima.lg.jp/soshiki/kyoikusomubu/bunkazaika/1/1/669.html
- Shiga Prefecture: cultural properties
- https://www.pref.shiga.lg.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.17