SETO UCHI. 
155 
CASTLE OF MIWARA. 
H.M.S. “Challenger” was at anchor off Matsuhama, a small village to the eastward of 
Miwara. A pleasant walk past farm-houses and cultivated fields brought us to the latter 
place, apparently a small provincial town, built under the walls of the castle of the Daimio, or 
Japanese noble, who, 
previous to the Revo¬ 
lution, lived here sur¬ 
rounded by all the 
pomp and splendour 
of a mediaeval court. 
The castle is 
protected on all sides 
by a wide and deep 
moat, and covers a 
space of about a square 
mile, accommodating 
a garrison of several thousand men. The numerous towers or forts which defend the wall, 
as well as the citadel, rest upon a massive foundation composed of large blocks of stone 
roughly hewn, resembling the so-called “Cyclopean” remains of Europe. The superstructures, 
here and there pierced with loopholes for the use of archers, are less solid—in fact, a mere 
framework of timber filled in with lath and plaster, and covered with the heavy but 
picturesque Japanese roof. We noticed on the wall what seemed to be portable wooden 
shields, made of a few boards, and supported 
in a slanting position by a single prop behind. 
With certain improvements, such as the 
addition of a sheet of iron, such shields might, 
on occasion, do good service in protecting 
soldiers from the deadly effects of the breech¬ 
loader. By combining a number of them 
together, a breastwork might be extemporised 
in a few minutes. The Castle, overshadowed 
by a grove of fine old trees, occupies the north¬ 
west corner of the fortress; but it was at the 
time of our visit falling into ruin, and probably moat of the castle of miwara. 
in a few years this imposing specimen of ancient Japanese fortification will have disappeared. 
Formidable as these strongholds—which are scattered over the face of Japan—must 
have been in times past, the introduction of modern artillery has of couise rendered them 
useless. Their solid foundations indeed might still support the heaviest guns ; but it is to 
be hoped that the new-born empire will not imitate Western nations in that wasteful 
rivalry of costly armaments which has an increasing tendency to involve empires in fiequent 
wars, and finally put an end to the boasted civilisation of Europe. 
