Ne Castle

History

Moroyuki Nanbu built Ne Castle in 1334 during the period known as the Northern & Southern Courts Period. Under allegiance to the Southern Court, Nanbu established Ne Castle to become the center of imperial government in the area. Another branch of the same Nanbu family actually ruled the Sannohe and Morioka area for the Northern Court at the same time. In 1393 at the end of this Northern & Southen Courts period, the 2 families also made peace with each other. During the Sengoku Period, the 18th generation Nanbu (Masayuki Nanbu) was a daimyo loyal to Toyotomi HIdeyoshi. After the Battle of Odawara, Masayuki was made a retainer of Nobunao Nanbu from Sannohe. In 1627, Nanbu Naoyoshi was moved to Tohno (Iwate Pref.) and the Nanbu lord from Sannohe moved to Hachinohe where he established a new castle, Hachinohe Castle, to the East of Ne Castle closer to the ocean.

In the picture above, notice how the path splits after the bridge and goes to two different gates. The path on the left is covered with white gravel and goes to a more ornate gate. This gate was used for the lord and guests. The path on the right is a simple dirt path that leads to a simple gate of swinging doors (heijuumon). This gate was for servants and workers.

Visit Notes

The reconstructed buildings at Ne Castle are really fantastic. They were all done using original materials and techniques. Archeological excavations uncovered the locations for the pillars and walls of each building and found enough artifacts to understand the function of each building. What we don't know for sure is how each building was made so the park has reconstructed a variety of different building types and roof types to be representative of the architectures at that time. The signs are all in Japanese but they often have very good illustrations that help you understand without the explanation. If you can speak even some Japanese, ask one of the volunteer guides at the gate to go with you. They are a wealth of knowledge about the history of the castle, the excavations, and trivia about the different building techniques and types. I spent well over 2 hours visiting the site and chatting with a couple of the guides. Ne Castle is highly recommended for history, castle or architecture fans. Ne Castle is from the time period before the flourishing of castle construction so it is a little bit different from what you might expect. There are still gates, baileys, and watchtowers, but there is no main keep, little or not stonework, and the walls are wooden posts fences on the outside and slat wood walls in the central compound. Hachinohe City is also (until 2011) the final stop on the Tohoku Shinkansen.

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Gallery

main building
Inside one of the rooms of the main building.
Looking across the inner courtyard
One of the halls inside the main building
One of the halls inside the main building
middle stable
pillars showing the layout of a building
One of the outer sides of the main building.
workshop
workshop interior
smithy
inside of the smithy
storerooms
resthouse
Main gate entrance to the castle park
A moddel of the reconstructed grounds.
map

Castle Profile
English Name	Ne Castle
Japanese Name	根城
Founder	Moroyuki Nanbu
Year Founded	1334
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	Top 100 Castles, National Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Year Reconstructed	1994
Features	gates, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Hachinohe Sta. (Tohoku Main Line), 15 min bus, 5 min walk
Visitor Information
Time Required
Website	http://www.hachinohe.ed.jp/haku/hiroba.html
Location	Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture
Coordinates	40° 30' 22.32" N, 141° 27' 37.51" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2010
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2010
Admin Visits	May 21, 2010

3.10

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ARTShogun

79 months ago

Score 1

Nejō is a reconstructed Muromachi Period castle. There are no other castles so extensively restored from this time period, making Nejō unique. Archaeological digs in the 1980s allowed experts to bring the site back to life and in 1994 it was reconstructed. Ancient style pit homes and the classical Shoin-style lord's palace can be seen on the site today, full of many interesting historical items and displays. Hachinohe City Museum is situated at the far end of the site. The exhibits that amused me showed Jōmon siblings and their dog: with their gormless, swarthy faces they looked like time travelling schoolgirls from the present, and I think the sculptor really captured the absentminded, mildly amused expression which is the default mien of the mid-teenaged female. Second there was a replica cylindrical old timey cot, or baby-containment vessel, as I call them.

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FurinkazanDaimyo

114 months ago

Score 0

I completely agree with the webmaster's notes. This is a very interesting site to visit. Exiting from the east exit of Hachinohe station, take the bus P8 at busstop #1, get off at Nejô busstop. Before arriving there you'll see the castle-site to your left. The ride costs 200¥. The entrance fee for the museum, which i also recommend, and the castle is 400¥. I had a chat with a guide at the honmaru. He told me several interesting things and he showed me a gingko tree which was 700 years old. It was there when the castle was build. The guide and other persons in the area liked my t-shirt. I wore one with the fūrinkazan on it. Apparently the Nanbu are related to the Takeda. One of their kamon is the yonbishi. The Nanbu moved from Kai province some time before the building of Nejô. The bus to Hachinohe station is the 60 or 63. There are several other busses passing at the Nejô busstop, but they don't go to this station.

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Jcastle.oldHatamoto

146 months ago

Score 0

Ben, thanks for sharing! That's a great story. I always thought about sending them a letter of thanks with a link to this writeup. It really underscores that you can never go wrong with volunteer guides at these sites.

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RebolforcesAshigaru

162 months ago

Score 0

Combined ticket with museum. Some interesting Jamon pieces in museum.

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Jcastle.oldHatamoto

174 months ago

Score 0

A 14th C. castle

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