Ansho Castle

History

The castle was founded by Wada Chikahira in 1440. The Matsudaira defeated them in 1471 and moved into the castle. This became the family home of the Matsudaira until Matsudaira Kiyoyasu (Ieyasu's grandfather) moved to Okazaki. After the Matsudaira vacated, the area surrounding the castle was the site of several heated battles between the Matsudaira, Imagawa and Oda. The castle was abandoned in 1562. Ansho Castle was surrounded by moats and earthen embankments, but never had a tenshu.

Visit Notes

I think I was "tricked" into visiting this castle. On my way to Nishio Castle, there was a poster for the museum and the ruins of Ansho Castle with a photo that looked like it should be a castle wall and the top of a yagura. Actually it was just the temple you see in the honmaru ruins. The museum looks like it might be a nice local history museum but I passed on it and continued on to Nishio instead.

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Gallery

• 

  Daijoji Temple.
• 

  honmaru ruins
• 

  map of former castle grounds

Castle Profile
English Name	Ansho Castle
Japanese Name	安祥城
Founder	Wada Chikahira
Year Founded	1440
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Designations	Local Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	trenches
Visitor Information
Access	Minami Anjo Sta. (Meitetsu Nishio Line); 10 min walk
Visitor Information
Time Required
Website	http://www.katch.ne.jp/~anjomuse/index.html
Location	Anjo, Aichi Prefecture
Coordinates	34° 56' 43.98" N, 137° 5' 56.98" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2009
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2009
Admin Visits	October 15, 2009

2.50

(4 votes)

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FurinkazanDaimyo

20 months ago

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Due to the rain on 13/12/2022, I changed my plans and went first to the Anjô city museum, located next to the Anjôjô ruins. It was still raining when I finished visiting the museum, but went to the castle ruins. There are now a temple and a shrine on the former castle grounds. Of the castle there isn't much to see. At the temple there was a group of elderly persons. They were training to guide people around the place in expectation of next year's Taiga drama's attraction to the site. A lady of the group came to me to give some explanation, but I couldn't understand. She called a man of the group, his name being Kato Tadao and he speaks English. I had a nice chat with him and after showing the castle grounds, he asked me what were my plans for the rest of the day. I told him I was going to Nishiojô and on my way back to the hotel, if I had still time, to Honshôji. He was amazed, since he lives in Nishio and he was also training to be a guide at Honshôji. He proposed to visit both sites together and so he drove me to them. He was very kind and after the visit at Honshôji, he drove me back to my hotel. A rainy day became a very nice experience.

Like ART stipulate in his last comment, the castle name in Japanese can be read Anshôjô or Anjôjô. The middle kanji is different. See on the picture of the map of the former castle.

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ARTShogun

20 months ago

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It's very dedicated of you to return to a site like this!

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EricShogun

20 months ago

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wow, sounds like an awesome day. So many good stories out there meeting like-minded castle people along the way. Ansho is the original proper castle name, Anjo came about because of the city name. All older sources list it as Ansho.

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ARTShogun

89 months ago

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I see that the Japanese wikipedia article gives the reading of this site as Anjōjō あんじょうじょう.

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EricShogun

20 months ago

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Ansho is the original proper name off 安祥, as per more authoritative sources, not wikipedia. I suspect reading it as Anjo came about from the city name.

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FurinkazanDaimyo

126 months ago

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After Nishiojou and Toujoujou, i went to this site. I decided to go there because i changed from the Meitetsu-line to the JR-line in this city. The stations are 1km from each other and the site of the castle is 1km on the same road but in the other direction from Minamianjo-station on the Meitetsu-line. There is indeed not alot to see. I like also temples and shrines, so i wasn't completely disappointed. If you go for a castle you'll be very disappointed.

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Jcastle.oldHatamoto

166 months ago

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Tokugawa is a branch of the Matsudaira clan that was founded by Ieyasu.

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Anonymous user #1

166 months ago

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for some reason why does the the banner of the matsudaira clan look like the banner of the tokugawa clan

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