Archaeological dig at the west kuruwa (bailey) of the former Tsutsujigasaki Yakata (palace) of the Takeda clan in Kõfu, Yamanashi Prefecture Japan.
Originally built in 1519 by Takeda Nobutora – the father of Takeda Shingen, the Tsutsujigasaki Yakata was the home and headquarters for three generations of the Takeda clan – Takeda Nobutora, Takeda Shingen, and Takeda Katsuyori.
The palace fell into ruin following the defeat of the Takeda clan during the late Sengoku era. During the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) it is recorded that virtually nothing remained apart from some of the moats and stone walls.
During the Meiji period castles were ordered to be demolished, this saw the few remaining walls being either buried or the stones carted off to build government roads and the moats being filled in.
A visit by the Emperor Meiji in 1880 inspired the locals of Yamanashi to build a shrine on the site dedicated to the memory of those who had fought on the side of the loyalists in the Boshin war (1868-69).
In 1915 the Emperor Taishõ commissioned the Takeda shrine in honour of the great warlord Takeda Shingen. The shrine was completed in 1919.
Currently the archaeological digs have revealed a part of the western kuruwa (bailey) and its surrounding moat. The site was a very well fortified palace, if not a castle. It consisted of a number of baileys as would be found in a castle of the era, surrounded by wide defensive moats.
A number of walls and entrances are being slowly uncovered and rebuilt following diagrams and drawings of the era based on the archaeological dig. Aerial photography and radar equipment has allowed the outline of the palace site to be distinguished and the placement of original buildings to be determined.
A number of artefacts have been found and are on display in a temporary hut nearby. (I wasn’t allowed to film those).
AloJapan.com