Yodo Castle

From Jcastle.info

Yodo3.jpg

History

In 1623, Tokugawa Hidetada ordered Matsudaira Sadatsuna to build a new castle here to fortify southern Kyoto. The plan was to dismantle Fushimi Castle and move the main keep here by rebuilding the former Yodo Castle closer to the river. The stone walls also made use of some stones from Fushimi Castle. At the last minute, the main keep was moved to NIjo Castle instead and the main keep form Nijo Castle was moved to Yodo Castle. The original foundation at Yodo Castle had been built to accommodate the larger Fushimi Castle main keep so the smaller Nijo Castle main keep had a lot of extra area on the foundation. To fill the area they built smaller 2 level yagura at the corners, connected by a single story yagura all around. The main keep burned down in a lightning strike in 1756. In 1856, the Shogunate forces who were defeated at the Battle of Toba Fushimi fled to regroup at Yodo Castle. However, they were refused protection by the lord of the castle despite having been loyal to Edo in the past. This was the final blow to the defeat of the former Shogunate forces in Kyoto.


Visit Notes

The stone walls of Yodo Castle are quite impressive. Unfortunately, the grounds are in a bad state of maintenance. The walls are overgrown with weeds in places, the weeds inside the baileys are out of control making the mosquitoes in October terrible. The very few signs are falling apart and there is a lot of trash scattered about. For a city like Kyoto that values its heritage, it is a shame to see this site falling into ruin. Especially when they just rebuilt the station and put millions of dollars into a new horse racing park just on the other side. Maybe they can return some of the profits from the those back into restoring the site one day. I understand that plans were drawn up to reinvigorate the site a few years ago, but no progress to date.
淀城の石垣は本当に見事です。ただし、現在の管理の状況があまりにもひどくて残念す。石垣にも雑草が生え過ぎているし、本丸の中の雑草も刈らずに伸びているため、10月でも本当に蚊が多くて苦しかったです。立ち止まることができません。わずかの説明板がボロボロでゴミも多かったです。文化財を大事にしている京都には恥ずかしいでしょう。駅も建て直したし、駅の反対側に新しい競馬場も作ったのでその利益の一部だけでも淀城をちゃんと整備していただきたいですね。数年前に一応そういう計画いいですが、まだ進んでいません。


Loading map...


Gallery
  • Main keep foundation
  • Moat and stone walls of the Honmaru.
  • Main keep foundation and train line.
  • Honmaru stone walls
  • Stone walls of the main keep foundation.
  • main keep foundation
  • Main keep foundation
  • Honmaru and main keep foundation stone walls.
  • Honmaru stone walls
  • Main keep foundation
  • Main keep foundation
  • Entrance to the main keep foundation.
  • Honmaru stone walls.
  • Path down from atop the honmaru stone walls.
  • Stone walls inside the honmaru
  • Looking over the stone walls
  • Looking out from the stone walls
  • Former yagura foundation.
  • An interesting kokuin (lord's mark).
  • Kokuin marks
  • Map


Castle Profile
English Name Yodo Castle
Japanese Name 淀城
Alternate Names Ukijiro, Tenjiro
Founder Matsudaira Sadatsuna
Year Founded 1623
Castle Type Flatland
Castle Condition Ruins only
Historical Period Edo Period
Features water moats, stone walls
Visitor Information
Access Yodo Sta. (Keihan Line); 1 min walk
Visitor Information Park is open any time.
Time Required 30 mins
Website http://kanko.city.kyoto.lg.jp/detail.php?InforKindCode=1&ManageCode=6000057
Location Kyoto, Kyoto
Coordinates 34° 54' 17.32" N, 135° 43' 3.40" E
Loading map...
Admin
Added to Jcastle 2010
Admin Year Visited 2014
Admin Visits October 19, 2014


2.00
(6 votes)
Add your comment
Jcastle.info welcomes all comments. If you do not want to be anonymous, register or log in. It is free.


avatar

RaymondWDaimyo

5 months ago
Score 0++

I first visited this castle ruin in 2010. I revisited this castle ruin in February this year to mainly photograph some of the kokuins there. There are numerous kokuins at this castle, but some of them have become somewhat weathered and hard to spot while others are covered by weeds and not clearly visible. On the castle keep’s ishigaki, someone has used white chalk to make some of the kokuins more visible.

As Suupaahiroo has commented below, there is a shachihoko from Yodo Castle on display in the Kyoto Archaeological Museum. It's part of the permanent exhibition up on the first floor. On the ground floor are displays of a temporary exhibition until 19th November 2023, which is currently featuring artefacts from the Kofun Period. This small museum is worth a visit, and amazingly they don’t charge visitors anything.
avatar

SuupaahiirooAshigaru

57 months ago
Score 0++

These might be two useless details to some castle fans, but let me just share them anyway for the sake of completeness.

In the garden of Rinshō-in (麟祥院), a subtemple of Myōshin-ji in Kyoto, there is a shachihoko ornament. It is said to be a remnant of Yodo Castle. The temple is dedicated to Lady Kasuga. Her father was a retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide, so that provides somewhat of a link between the two places.

Another shachihoko of Yodo-jō is on (permanent?) display at the Archaeological Museum in Kyoto.
avatar

SuupaahiirooAshigaru

86 months ago
Score 0++
From 18 February to 25 June 2017, there is a special archaeological exhibition about Yodo Castle and Fushimi Castle. The exhibition is free and will be held at Kyoto City Archaeological Museum. For more info (in Japanese) see http://www.c...0213675.html