Inuyama Castle （国宝 犬山城）,Aichi Prefecture

Today we will see about a castle in Aichi Prefecture, called the Inuyama Castle.

I was writing something very complicated, enjoying it and wondering how many will read it …. when I suddenly found a feed in YouTube about Inuyama.? After watching the vid, I read and decided to postpone my ongoing article and give you something light and interesting

In Japanese, Inu means dog. But I found no articles having any explanation as to why the castle was named as such. That, lead me into another search trail and finally found it .

So, the castle and its history and its name will give you a light and interesting read, I hope!!

So lets go into this place, with open minds and roused curiosity.

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Inuyama Castle – History

The Inuyama Castle was built by the father of Oda Nobunaga, Matsudaira Noboyasu in 1537. This castle is one among 4 castles which have their main towers preserved till date. The Noube Plain which are set like a folding fan over the fertile delta, accords a blissful view of the city from the top floors of the castle. The Inuyama castle has survived numerous wars and has been preserved for us to know/ remind ourselves of its glittering past.

?Location of the Inuyama Castle

The Inuyama castle is situated along the Kiso River which cuts through the border of Gifu and Aichi Prefectures. The tenshu of the main tower of the castle is one of the 12 such ancient castle towers existing today from before 1580. The castle has been designated as the National Historical Site.

Among the 12 existing tenshu 4 castles?? are designated as the National Treasures of Japan. The other being Matsumoto Castle, Hikone Castle and the Himeji Castle.

Therefore, the Inuyama Castle is preceded by the word kokuhou (国宝、こくほう), meaning a national treasure. 国宝 犬山城　kokuhou Inuyamajou.

The castle is beautifully visible when you enter the castle gate. The Kiso River flows through the northern side and the entrance in the south. The main tower of the tenshu is not viewable due to the construction design but an entry through castle gate brings alive the majesty of the Inuyama CASTLE.

Current Ownership

After passing several hands of the feudal lords the castle is now owned by a Non-profit organization set up by Board of Education, Aichi Prefecture.

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Interiors of the castle

Lets see about the tenshu or the main tower of the Inuyama Castle.

The view which you see in the pictures is that of the remnant Tenshu or the main keep or donjon of the castle.? The protective parts of the castle like the moats, ramparts, ditches, and other structures are not present in the same as it did in the past. The donjon as seen today was a watch tower during the wars and now left as a memorial of the courage and power of the feudal lords.

The watch towers of donjon or tenshu were of two kinds, namely the borogata donjon and the sotogata donjon. Borogata donjon ??was an ancient style of construction, where two observation levels or Boro were constructed in the top floors of the castle. The sotogata donjon is a recent style construction where layers were added on each floor.

The number of floors seen from out side is not same as those counted from inside the castle in the borogata donjon. The roofs seen from outside are called labels and the floors inside is called the floor. Inuyama Castle has three external layers and 4 floors internally.

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The entrance to the donjon is called the anagura is located at the second ground floor.

In the first floor is a place called the tsukeyagura (adjoining room) where the enemies are punished. This is located on the right side of stairs. Any attempt on part of the enemies to open the door to first floor will result in an attack.

A trapezoidal structure from the tsukeyagura or the first floor. It is the donjon being built on the irregular terrain of the hills and is a designed to highlight the magnificence of the castle.

The interiors of the castle bear witness to the tools used in those times which are no more in use, thanks to modernisation.

The cuts made by the Japanese large saw called the oga and the floors were fixed square nails called the kakukugi or wakugi. These are now defunct and the round headed nails started being used from 19th century.

On the northern gates of the ground floor on the east and west sides are brattices which are tall stoned walls with small windows are found. The windows were used to shoot arrows or rifles.

Jodan no ma is the only Tatami room. The patterns on the tatami showed the stature of the person who sat on it, the room was reserved for Naruse Clan and Nagoya Castles the lords of the former and overlords of the latter.

The tatami with larger motif was for lords of the Tokugawa clan, military dictators, and their direct vassals. Smaller patterns showed that the people who were distant from the Tokugawa were seated. The same rule was fooled when the fuchi of the tatami were large, medium or small

Second floor has the armoury. The armours and weapons were kept here by the warriors.

A room called the Hafu no ma is there between the second-floor ceiling and the watchtower. All four walls of the room have windows bringing bright light and the roofs of these windows are gables.

On the fourth floor are the cornice and balustrade which offers a 360-degree view of the places situated around the castle.

Bell shaped windows called the kotomado are found flanked between the right and left doors to the cornice. These have no purposes other than being decorations.

?Why Inuyama got its name?

?There are three reasons identified for the name of the castle being named Inuyama.

1.????? Since the place was suited for hunting using the dogs, it was named Inuyama.

2.????? A Heian period document bears a mention of niwagunonogou, (丹羽郡小野郷―にわぐぼのごう) 。It says that there were many mountains in the place by name Ono. It was supposed that おのやまbecame　おぬやま and eventually いぬやま.

3.????? いぬい(戌亥)　was a word for northwest. The enshrined deity of the大縣神社 Ooagata shrine and the father of the deity of the other shrine called 針綱神社 (haritsuna Shrine) Tamahime no Mikoto were to meet and the former shrine is in the 戌亥方向（いぬいほうこう）or the North west direction. They believe that inu (犬/いぬ) or Inui (戌亥―いぬい) was borrowed to name the city and the castle.

Its opined that the mountain where the castle is located not kind enough to use dogs for hunting. So that theory is nullified

But we can give some credence to the direction theory. ?The puzzle is solved if the Ooagata Jinja is in the north west direction of the Haritsuna Jinja.

The Ooagata Jinja is very old and was moved to its present location from the Honguusann（本宮山） during the reign of Emperor Suinin. The Haritsuna Shrine is in the North-northwest direction of the Ooagata Shrine. The word inu (犬/いぬ) is derived from the Inui ( 戌亥―いぬい)．The castle and the city were christened Inuyama as the inu (犬 /いぬ) or the dog is revered as a deity which helps in easy childbirth.

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