Edo Castle 江戸城

The castles in Japan were built by numerous stones. We do not ask where those stones came from nowadays as they were built about four centuries ago. The photo shows the Tayasu Gate, one of the thirty-some square-shaped gates of the Edo Castle. The city of Edo, present day Tokyo, stands on an alluvial plain and a terrace of volcanic ashes and the nearest place with rocky ground is at least thirty kilometers away.

When I went to Ito city at the neck of Izu Penninsula the other day, I saw some left-over stones of the Edo Castle there. There were quarries in nearby mountainous areas and stones were transported from the port of Ito to Edo by ships. If we consider the volume of all stones usued to build the Edo Castle, we realize that the port must have been very busy in those days.
Feudal lords who were assigned construction work by Shogun had their family insignias inscribed on some of the stones for identification.

(left at the Tayasu Gate, right in Ito)

By the way, I have received e-mail from foreign hams to invite me to participate ham radio castles award programs twice or three times. I find that 241 castles in Japan have numbers assigned in the World Castles Award program. The Edo castle is JA-00010. However, many Japanese castles have spiral structures and it is often difficult to find clear boundaries. In addition, many of original boundaries such as moats and stone walls have disappeared due to the necessities of present urban life. Some more reserch and thinking seem necessary to start castles activation in this country.

今日は、東京の北の丸公園の北口にあたる田安門へ行きました。先日、伊東へ行ったときに、江戸城へ運んだ石の残りがおいてあったので、あらためて築城当時の工事のたいへんさを考えました。

ところで、ヨーロッパでは、城移動のアマチュア局と交信するWCAが盛んなようです。見ると日本の城にもナンバーがつけられていますが、日本の城は縄張りがらせん形だったり、明治以降の改変があったりで、境界線がはっきりしないものが多いと思われます。もう少し、考えないとQRVはしにくいです。ちなみに、WCAでは、ARLHSと似て、城から１，０００メートル以内からのオンエアが有効のようです。