【歴史じっくり紀行】OSHIRO vol.89 山口県山口市にある毛利氏最後の本拠地を訪れた！!【ゆっくり解説】【お城巡り】【日本観光】
Hello everyone. Welcome to OSHIRO. Today, we are going on a castle tour. This time, we are going to Yamaguchi Castle. Let’s go right away. [What kind of castle is Yamaguchi Castle?] Yamaguchi Castle is a castle located in Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is currently the Yamaguchi Prefectural Office. It was built in 1863, towards the end of the Edo period. At that time, Yamaguchi Prefecture was the Choshu Domain, ruled by the Mori clan. The lord of the domain at the time, Mori Yoshichika, moved the domain office from Hagi to Yamaguchi in preparation for emergencies at the end of the Edo period. At that time, Japan was under threat from foreign countries, and the emperor also advocated expulsion of foreigners. As a result, the Choshu Domain’s theory of expulsion of foreigners became the domain’s theory. It became necessary to prepare for war with foreign countries. They searched for a place to replace Hagi that would not be directly exposed to threats from foreign ships, and would be easy to command to Shimonoseki and the Seto Inland Sea. Yamaguchi was the base to replace Hagi. Why did they choose Yamaguchi? Actually, it is this land called Yamaguchi. During the Muromachi period, the Ouchi clan used it as their base and developed the town. As an aside, during the Sengoku period, the Mori clan became the rulers of the Chugoku region when Mori Motonari was the head of the family. Eventually, Motonari died. After that, Mori Terumoto, who succeeded the Mori clan, sided with Ishida Mitsunari and served as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army at Sekigahara. The Mori clan was indeed a powerful force, and when Oda Nobunaga expelled Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Yoshiaki Ashikaga was protected by the Mori clan. Mori Terumoto was then appointed as the Vice Shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate. After that, when Nobunaga was defeated in the Honnoji Incident and Toyotomi Hideyoshi took over the Oda clan’s rule over Japan and became the regent, Mori Terumoto supported the Toyotomi government as one of the Five Elders. The Five Elders became Vice Shogun. And in the Battle of Sekigahara, Mori Terumoto was chosen as the commander-in-chief of the Western Army. The Eastern Army was defeated by the Tokugawa clan. When the Mori clan served as one of the Five Elders under the Toyotomi government, they made Hiroshima Castle their base. However, he was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu at Sekigahara and his territory was confiscated. He was transferred to Hagi and searched for a new base. At that time, Takamine Castle in Yamaguchi was chosen as a candidate for his base. It was originally the site of a castle belonging to the Ouchi clan, who flourished before the Mori clan became the rulers of the western region. Mori Terumoto, an ancestor of Mori Yoshichika, chose this location as a candidate for his base. That was Yamaguchi. At the end of the Edo period, the Mori clan was under threat from foreign powers, and the new Yamaguchi Castle they built was a flat castle. It was a flat castle that used the Takamine Castle of the Ouchi clan from the Warring States period as a secondary castle. A secondary castle is a castle built for evacuation in an emergency. In medieval castles, there was a mountain behind the mansion, and this mountain was used as a castle in an emergency. It is a secondary castle. The ruins of Yamaguchi Castle, which is now the Yamaguchi Prefectural Office, seem to have been built as a Western-style castle with artillery batteries, earthworks, and moats. The artillery batteries, earthworks, and moats still remain today. It was called Yamaguchi-kan within the domain, and Yamaguchi Castle outside the domain. [Choshu Domain at the end of the Edo Period] On April 16, 1863, the base was moved from Hagi to Yamaguchi. On October 16, 1864, it was completed as a bastion-style castle, incorporating the ideas of Omura Masujiro and others. It appears to have been an octagonal castle. However, shortly after, the shogunate launched the first Choshu expedition. The reason seems to have been an imperial decree issued to the Edo Shogunate. The Choshu Domain was held responsible for causing the Kinmon Incident. The Kinmon Incident was a battle in which the Choshu Domain, which had been exiled from Kyoto in the August 18th coup, marched to Kyoto to eliminate the Aizu Domain, which had been tasked with guarding the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and their lord, Matsudaira Katamori . In the Kinmon Incident, the Choshu Domain pointed guns at the Kyoto Imperial Palace where the Emperor lived, and was rebellious against the shogunate, so they became targets for conquest. The first battle between feudal lords in the Kinai region had been since the Siege of Osaka between the Tokugawa and Toyotomi clans. Cannons were used in the Kinmon Incident, burning 30,000 houses in the city, causing a great shock. The Choshu clan was defeated in the Kinmon Incident and became an enemy of the Imperial Court. The First Conquest of Choshu was then carried out. The Edo Shogunate appointed Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, head of the Owari Tokugawa clan, as commander-in-chief and ordered 21 clans in Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu to send troops. The Choshu clan surrendered without a fight. They apologized to the Shogunate by having three elders commit seppuku and four staff officers beheaded. As a result, no battle took place and the expeditionary force withdrew. At this time, the expeditionary force issued orders to Choshu. These were: “Submit a letter of apology from the feudal lord and his son, dispose of the five nobles and their associated ronin who had escaped from the domain, and destroy Yamaguchi Castle.” First, the Choshu clan submitted a letter of apology from the feudal lord and his son to the Governor-General’s Office. As for the destruction of Yamaguchi Castle, the Choshu clan said, “Yamaguchi Castle is not a castle, it is a mansion.” When the castle was built, the palace from Hagi Castle, the clan’s former base, was moved, and the Sakurada clan’s residence in Edo, which was confiscated after the defeat in the Kinmon Incident, was dismantled and moved. When the new castle was built, it seems that an application was made to the shogunate for “relocation of a mansion.” The story goes that the destruction of Yamaguchi Castle was one of the conditions for the shogunate’s troops to withdraw. As a result, Yamaguchi Castle was partially destroyed. The lord of the clan returned to Hagi Castle, the clan’s former base. However, the following year, he returned to the Yamaguchi mansion. When the Meiji era began and the feudal domains were abolished and prefectures were established, it became the Yamaguchi Prefectural Office. [Who was Mori Takachika, the castle’s builder?] Mori Takachika was the 13th lord of the Hagi clan. He was nicknamed “Lord Sosei.” He would reply “Sosei” to advice from his retainers. Opinions are divided as to whether he was favored by his retainers or was generous. Author Ryotaro Shiba commented, “In a sense, there may have been no man who was as wise as him. He did not allow fools or wicked people to get close to him, but instead allowed the wise men of the domain to get close to him.” Mori Takachika was the lord of the Choshu domain during the late Edo period. What kind of person was he? He became the head of the Mori clan at the age of 17. It was an unexpected turn of events. This is because, in fact, Mori Takachika was not from the main Mori family. He was born as the eldest son of the Fukuhara family, one of the eight hereditary retainers. His mother was a concubine. When his father, Mori Narimoto, the 10th lord of the domain, died, Mori Narihiro became the 11th lord of the domain. However, it seems that Mori Narihiro died about 20 days after the procedures with the shogunate were completed. Mori Takachika suddenly pretended that Mori Narihiro was still alive and was adopted, becoming the head of the Mori family. When he first entered the domain, he expressed his feelings and intentions to his vassals. “I am confused at having unexpectedly inherited the family headship,” “Because I had been living in a room with no prospect of becoming a lord, I became the lord without any direct instruction from the previous lord,” “Because I am young and inexperienced, I will not make decisions on my own, but will consult with my assistant vassals without discrimination and handle government affairs.” This is how Mori Takachika, the “Lord Sosei,” became the head of the Mori family. What kind of person was he? When Takachika became the lord, the Choshu domain was suffering from financial difficulties. Takachika was well aware of this, so he entered the domain wearing cotton clothes and behaving frugally, which impressed the people. He seems to have been a person who could discipline himself. He also carried out many reforms to the domain’s government. In 1838, when he entered Hagi, he immediately began to resolve the financial difficulties. These were frugality and a reform of the currency circulation. Three years later, he built the Yubikan, a domain school in Edo, a place for the training of the martial arts and literature. He embarked on strengthening the military. He also held military drills in Hagi. He also reformed the Meirinkan, a domain school in his hometown. These reforms produced many talented people who would lead the future of the Choshu domain and Japan, such as Inoue Kaoru, Katsura Kogoro, Kunishige Masafumi, Takasugi Shinsaku, Nagai Gagaku, Nogi Maresuke, Yoshida Shoin, Shufu Masanosuke, and Murata Seifu. He promoted many talented people, including Takasugi Shinsaku, without being concerned about family background or age. For example, he highly evaluated the talent of Yoshida Shoin, who was 11 years younger than him and the son of a low-ranking samurai, and there is a story that he became Shoin’s disciple himself. Yoshida Shoin was executed for attempting to stow away to America during the Ansei Purge by Ii Naosuke, the chief advisor who carried out the opening of Japan . He was a man who had a strong desire to explore new cultural artifacts. As Japan was exposed to foreign threats, the Choshu clan was involved in wars with other countries, and even became an enemy of the imperial court, and was attacked by the shogunate. In this chaos, it was “Lord Sosei” Mori Yoshichika who steered the Choshu clan. He submitted the clan’s theory of expelling foreigners to the shogunate and introduced a Western-style military system. He then made it the clan’s policy to expel foreigners, ahead of the shogunate, which did not do so. At that time, the 14th shogun, Iemochi, took up the position of shogun and went to Kyoto. It was the first time since Tokugawa Iemitsu that a shogun had gone to Kamigata. The shogun’s visit to Kyoto was to demonstrate the shogunate’s authority to the world, and to promise the expulsion of foreigners to Emperor Komei, who was in favor of expelling foreigners. However, the shogunate, knowing that the neighboring Qing dynasty had been defeated in the Opium Wars, was ultimately unable to carry out the expulsion of foreigners and chose to open the country to the outside world, and concluded unequal treaties. The promise of expelling foreigners was not fulfilled. In this situation, the Choshu clan closed off the Mahan Strait and drove away foreign ships from the Netherlands, France, and America without warning. After this, the Choshu clan was subjected to retaliatory attacks from France and America. Even though the Choshu clan’s cannons were destroyed, they were repaired, and they even occupied the territory of the Kokura clan, built new artillery batteries there, and fought back, but were defeated in the end. Furthermore, the United Kingdom, claiming that it had suffered economic losses due to the blockade of the Mahan Strait, formed a combined fleet of 17 ships with the Netherlands, France, and the United States and attacked the Choshu clan. The Choshu clan was defeated. As an aside, the allied powers demanded compensation. It was the Tokugawa Shogunate that paid it, not the Choshu clan. This is because Tokugawa Iemochi had promised Emperor Komei that he would carry out the expulsion of foreigners. The Choshu clan took the position that they had “expelled foreigners in accordance with the orders of the Shogun,” and did not pay the compensation. As an aside, the allied powers occupied the Choshu clan’s artillery batteries. At this time, France took the cannons back to their home country. In 2025, the World Expo will be held in Osaka. The history of the World Expo is long, with a domestic exposition being held in Paris, France, in 1798. After that, the scale gradually grew and it became the World Exposition. When France occupied France, they brought back the cannon and exhibited it at the exposition. It is currently on display at the Naval Museum in Brest, France. It is a different cannon, but it is a Japanese-made cannon from the Edo period in the Netherlands. Its characteristics are a long barrel with a decorative ring pattern. The barrel is made of bronze. It is a smoothbore cannon. The wheeled gun carriage is made of wood. It is a muzzle-loading type that is loaded from the muzzle. The shape of the gun carriage is Japanese-style and seems to be different from Western naval guns. The Choshu clan used such cannons to fight against foreign countries. When the first Choshu expedition began, the retainers held a long meeting but could not reach a decision. When Mori Takachika felt that all opinions had been expressed, he finally said, “Our clan will surrender to the shogunate. So be it,” and left the place. Mori Takachika, the “Lord of the Choshu,” was a man who made decisions when it was important. He was a man who actively promoted talented people and listened to the opinions of wise men. In 1868, the land and peoples’ rights were returned to the Emperor. The process of land being given to daimyo from the Kamakura period to the Edo period was complicated with both private ownership by the daimyo and public ownership by the government, making it a difficult task to carry out. The Mori clan, who had overthrown the Tokugawa Shogunate, needed to take the initiative in returning land to the Emperor. Understanding that the Mori clan needed to take the initiative in setting an example to convince the daimyo throughout the country, Takachika agreed. Furthermore, he called out to the crying Kido Takayoshi (Katsura Kogoro), warning him, “We are living in a world of war, so people are upset. We don’t know what will happen if we make such a big change, so I hope Kido Takayoshi will go to Kyoto and find the right opportunity.” Mori Takachika retired after the land and peoples’ rights were returned to the Emperor. He seems to have been a selfless and unambitious man. In his later years, he passed away in Yamaguchi Castle in 1871. That concludes the story of Mori Yoshichika, the castle’s builder. How did you enjoy today’s castle tour? Please subscribe to our channel and click the like button. The next castle tour will be the remains of the Ema clan residence in Gifu Prefecture. Please look forward to it.
今回訪れたお城は山口城跡です。現在、山口県庁となっています。戦国時代、中国地方の覇者となった毛利氏が幕末に本拠とした地です。
西洋の脅威に日本が揺れる中、西洋式の城郭が設けられました。現地の案内板などでは、その形がしっかり描かれています。その跡地を散策しました。
【所在地】山口市滝町１
【交通】
○「山口宇部空港」から新山口駅行きのバスで約30分、「JR新山口駅」から 湯田・山口県庁方面行きのバスで約30分、「県庁前」下車すぐ(県庁舎玄関まで約300m)
○「JR新山口駅」からJR山口線で約23分、「JR山口駅」下車
「JR山口駅」から県庁方面行きのバスで約5分、「県庁前」下車すぐ(県庁舎玄関まで約300m)
前回のお城巡りは雑賀埼城跡です。【和歌山県和歌山市】
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