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What was a strategic intention for building Bitchu-Takamatsu Castle?

Its placement in a swamp, in a basin surrounded by mountains might on three sides made the castle impregnable, but also quite inconvenient for any offensive use or territorial defense. Or am I wrong?

My only idea is the nearby Matsuyama Road, but still it doesn't look like the castle protected it.

Why the castle was built in a way that seemingly seems to allow cutting it off by a small contingent?

If not military was there any political significance then?

macraf
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    Is this question simply a specific example of Why bother attacking castles at all? Why not go around?? – congusbongus Oct 16 '15 at 04:43
  • I am interested in the merits of Bitchu-Takamatsu Castle. I don't see a point in building a fortress in in the middle of wetlands, yet attacking it. For siege technique used (inundating) and political timing this is a very well known battle in Japanese history, but I have not seen any resource explaining why it happened in the first place. – macraf Oct 16 '15 at 05:29
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    @macraf The point of building it there is that it was an excellent defensive position. There was 3-5000 troops garrisoned in it, so it's not some minor outpost that could be trivially ignored. – Semaphore Oct 16 '15 at 05:45
  • @macraf The castle had been slighted for 400 years. How could you tell if it couldn't station 3-5000 soldiers? I'm also not sure why you think it has anything to do with retreating. – Semaphore Oct 16 '15 at 08:34
  • from what I've read, the only reason given was the marsh was a natural moat. They aren't even sure what year it was constructed. – setobot5000 Oct 17 '15 at 17:37
  • @setobot5000 That's what bothers me. Nothing more is known. I don't understand the reason for building an outpost in an isolated place, in a basin, in the middle of a marsh. As a last point of retreat, ok, but as a remote fort? And from the battle descriptions, it doesn't look like there was a huge complex incorporating structures and infrastructure on nearby mountains. By comparison, are there any other examples of building a fortress in a place with similar geographical features? – macraf Oct 18 '15 at 00:26
  • well, thats the thing, people, especially in the past, aren't exactly in the habit of writing everything down, especially motivations. In East Asia there's also a culture of only writing things down if it's unusual or objectionable. Japanese wikipedia states that during the siege the castle in fact had a garrison of 5,000, so I can only say that Semaphore is most likely correct. – setobot5000 Oct 18 '15 at 19:29

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