Ichizouani Castle

Ichizani Castle - The ruins of a Japanese castle located near the city of Fukui , Fukui Prefecture , Japan . The castle area was controlled by the Asakura clan for 103 years during the Sengoku period, and was the main fortification of the clan. The castle stood on a mountain 473 meters high (although separate fortifications were located at lower heights), had ditches, ramparts, canals, and wolf pits. The center of the castle was the courtyard of "a thousand tatami", which housed the estate of the head of the clan; its area was more than 6400 sq.m. The so-called “Samurai city” adjoined the main building, and around it was a prismatic city in which artisans and merchants lived.

The castle was founded at the end of the XIV century, from 1471 belonged to the Asakura clan and was one of the main cultural and military points in Japan at that time, at the peak of development it had a population of more than 10,000 people. The castle was burned in 1573 when the Asakura clan was defeated by Oda Nobunaga , then restored, but in 1575 it was burned again and was not restored.

Complex excavations of the ruins began in 1967 and continue to the present; most of it has been excavated, including the ruins of the head of the clan’s house, samurai houses, temples, houses of merchants, houses of artisans and the street. Samurai residences and merchant houses have now been partially restored on a 200-meter-long street, and four Japanese gardens have also been discovered and partially restored. In 1971, the castle ruins were declared a historical monument, in 1981 - a museum, while the ruins of one of the gardens were declared a historical monument in Japan back in 1930.