# Shinoridate

The site of Shinoridate (志苔館跡, Shinoridate ato) in Hakodate, Hokkaidō, Japan, is that once occupied by the Shinori Fort or Fortified Residence (as denoted by the tate or date ending). This was the easternmost of the so-called "Twelve Garrisons of Southern Hokkaido", built on the Oshima Peninsula by the Wajin from the fourteenth century. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1934 and is one of the Japan Castle Foundation's Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles.

## Shinori fort

Shinoridate is located some 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) to the east of the center of Hakodate, along a stretch of coast with many good natural harbours. A short distance inland from Shinori Fishing Port, with the mouth of the Shinori River to the west, the gently sloping site overlooks the Tsugaru Strait and Shimokita Peninsula, with views also towards Mount Hakodate.
The earthworks rise to a height of 4 to 4.5 metres (13 to 15 ft) on the north side and 1 to 1.5 metres (3.3 to 4.9 ft) to the south and are interrupted by an opening on both the east and the west sides. The moat is 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) wide on the north and west sides and up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) deep and is crossed by two earth bridges, that to the west particularly well-preserved.
First laid out around the end of the fourteenth century, Shinoridate features in the Matsumae Domainal history Shinra no Kiroku, which tells of it being sacked by the Ainu in Chōroku 1 (1457), during Koshamain's War, and again falling to the Ainu in Eishō 9 (1512), after which its occupants, the house of Kobayashi (小林氏), became subject to the Matsumae clan.
The Hakodate City Board of Education conducted excavations and surveys of the enclosure and surrounding area between 1983 and 1985, uncovering the remains of a number of buildings, palisades, a well, artefacts made of bronze, iron, stone, and wood, celadons and white porcelain from southern China, as well as domestic Suzu, Echizen, and Seto ware.
Three different intercolumnar measurements were used in the construction of the buildings, the style of the well is that found in Heian-kyō in the late Kamakura period, while many of the ceramics are typical of the early fifteenth century.
Accordingly, three main phases have been identified: the end of the fourteenth or early-fifteenth century; mid-fifteenth century; and sixteenth century or later. With the archaeological evidence pushing back the origins of the fort at least half a century before Koshamain, its construction can no longer be understood as an immediate response to the contingencies of 1457, and other explanations are required.

## Shinori hoard

In July 1968, during widening work on the prefectural road (now National Route 278) that runs past the fort, a Nanbokuchō-period (C14) coin hoard was unearthed some 40 metres (130 ft) inland from the mouth of the Shinori River, at a location 3 metres (9.8 ft) above sea level. This is the largest hoard found to date in Japan in terms of the number of coins it contains.
The three large vessels excavated weighed, together with their contents, 1.6 tonnes (1.6 long tons; 1.8 short tons). Ninety-three different types of coin have been identified: a handful in total of early Japanese coinage of the Asuka, Nara and early Heian periods, late tenth-century Vietnamese coinage of the Đinh and Early Lê dynasties, and late eleventh-century Goryeo coinage from Korea; the bulk comprising Chinese coinage, primarily of the Song dynasty, issues ranging in date from 4 Zhu Ban Liang minted in the fifth year of Emperor Wen of Han (175 BC) to Hongwu Tongbao from the first year of the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming dynasty (1368). The 374,435 coins from this hoard now at the Hakodate City Museum have been designated an Important Cultural Property.
A 1999 study of 275 Japanese hoards, totalling 3,530,000 coins, found that the Chinese copper coins used in Japan in the Middle Ages were brought over in the largest number in the thirteenth century, were used primarily in commerce or for paying soldiers, and were buried largely for reasons of security, although there were also instances of ritual or votive deposits. The dating of the Shinori hoard precludes its burial as a response to Koshamain's War; instead it may relate to trade, the local Shinori or Kaga kombu featuring alongside Ezo salmon in the Nanboku-chō period text Teikin Ōrai (庭訓往来). Produce from the area would have been traded along the Hokuriku coast to reach the markets of Kyōto and Ōsaka.
Coins in the Shinori hoard :
| | Type | Date/First minted | Quantity | Origin |
| 1 | 4 Zhu Ban Liang | 175 BC (Buntei 5) | 7 | Han |
| 2 | Wu Zhu | 115 BC (Gentei 2) | 39 | Han |
| 3 | Huo Quan | 14 (Tenpō 1) | 6 | Xin |
| 4 | Kaiyuan Tongbao | 621 | 30,816 | Tang |
| 5 | Qian Yuan Zhong Bao | 758 (Kengen 1) | 1,422 | Tang |
| 6 | Wadōkaichin | 708 | 1 | Asuka period |
| 7 | Mannen Tsūhō | 760 | 1 | Nara period |
| 8 | Jinkō Kaihō | 765 | 4 | Nara period |
| 9 | Ryūhei Eihō | 796 | 2 | Heian period |
| 10 | Fuju Shinpō | 818 | 4 | Heian period |
| 11 | Jōwa Shōhō | 835 | 1 | Heian period |
| 12 | Jōgan Eihō | 870 | 1 | Heian period |
| 13 | Engi Tsuhō | 907 | 1 | Heian period |
| 14 | Tong Zheng Yuan Bao | 915 | 8 | Former Shu |
| 15 | Tian Han Yuan Bao | 917 | 17 | Former Shu |
| 16 | Guang Tian Yuan Bao | 918 | 17 | Former Shu |
| 17 | Qian De Yuan Bao | 919 | 79 | Former Shu |
| 18 | Xian Kang Yuan Bao | 925 | 19 | Former Shu |
| 19 | Da Tang Tong Bao | 944 | 2 | Southern Tang |
| 20 | Han Yuan Tong Bao | 948 | 15 | Later Han |
| 21 | Zhou Yuan Tong Bao | 955 | 87 | Later Zhou |
| 22 | Tang Guo Tong Bao | 959 | 393 | Southern Tang |
| 23 | Song Yuan Tong Bao | 960 | 1,288 | Northern Song |
| 24 | Thái Bình Hưng Bảo | 970 | 3 | Đinh dynasty |
| 25 | Tai Ping Tong Bao | 976 | 3,512 | Northern Song |
| 26 | Thiên Phúc Trấn Bảo | 984 | 19 | Early Lê |
| 27 | Chun Hua Yuan Bao | 990 | 3,258 | Northern Song |
| 28 | Zhi Dao Yuan Bao | 995 | 5,851 | Northern Song |
| 29 | Xian Ping Yuan Bao | 998 | 6,400 | Northern Song |
| 30 | Jing De Yuan Bao | 1004 | 8,139 | Northern Song |
| 31 | Xiang Fu Yuan Bao | 1008 | 9,322 | Northern Song |
| 32 | Xiang Fu Tong Bao | 1008 | 5,384 | Northern Song |
| 33 | Tian Xi Tong Bao | 1017 | 7,943 | Northern Song |
| 34 | Tian Sheng Yuan Bao | 1023 | 17,924 | Northern Song |
| 35 | Ming Dao Yuan Bao | 1032 | 1,813 | Northern Song |
| 36 | Jing You Yuan Bao | 1034 | 5,384 | Northern Song |
| 37 | Huang Song Tong Bao | 1039 | 47,031 | Northern Song |
| 38 | Qing Li Zhong Bao | 1045 | 1 | Northern Song |
| 39 | Qing Ning Tong Bao | 1055 | 1 | Liao |
| 40 | Zhi He Yuan Bao | 1054 | 4,452 | Northern Song |
| 41 | Zhi He Tong Bao | 1054 | 1,416 | Northern Song |
| 42 | Jia You Yuan Bao | 1056 | 4,478 | Northern Song |
| 43 | Jia You Tong Bao | 1056 | 8,729 | Northern Song |
| 44 | Zhi Ping Yuan Bao | 1064 | 7,002 | Northern Song |
| 45 | Zhi Ping Tong Bao | 1064 | 1,154 | Northern Song |
| 46 | Xian Yong Tong Bao | 1065 | 2 | Liao |
| 47 | Xi Ning Yuan Bao | 1068 | 34,897 | Northern Song |
| 48 | Xi Ning Zhong Bao | 1071 | 12 | Northern Song |
| 49 | Da Kang Tong Bao | 1075 | 2 | Liao |
| 50 | Yuan Feng Tong Bao | 1078 | 43,009 | Northern Song |
| 51 | Yuan You Tong Bao | 1086 | 33,904 | Northern Song |
| 52 | Shao Sheng Yuan Bao | 1094 | 14,917 | Northern Song |
| 53 | Shao Sheng Tong Bao | 1094 | 2 | Northern Song |
| 54 | Dong Guk Tong Bo | 1097 | 7 | Goryeo |
| 55 | Dong Guk Chung Bo | 1097 | 2 | Goryeo |
| 56 | Hae Dong Tong Bo | 1097 | 18 | Goryeo |
| 57 | Hae Dong Jung Bo | 1097 | 1 | Goryeo |
| 58 | Sam Han Tong Bo | 1097 | 1 | Goryeo |
| 59 | Sam Han Jung Bo | 1097 | 2 | Goryeo |
| 60 | Yuan Fu Tong Bao | 1098 | 5,721 | Northern Song |
| 61 | Sheng Song Yuan Bao | 1101 | 14,333 | Northern Song |
| 62 | Chong Ning Tong Bao | 1102 | 3 | Northern Song |
| 63 | Chong Ning Zhong Bao | 1102 | 2 | Northern Song |
| 64 | Da Guan Tong Bao | 1107 | 4,230 | Northern Song |
| 65 | Zheng He Tong Bao | 1111 | 15,206 | Northern Song |
| 66 | Xuan He Yuan Bao | 1119 | 1 | Northern Song |
| 67 | Xuan He Tong Bao | 1119 | 1,412 | Northern Song |
| 68 | Jianyan Tong Bao | 1127 | 88 | Southern Song |
| 69 | Shaoxing Yuan Bao | 1131 | 149 | Southern Song |
| 70 | Shaoxing Tong Bao | 1131 | 16 | Southern Song |
| 71 | Zheng Long Yuan Bao | 1158 | 479 | Jin |
| 72 | Tian Sheng Yuan Bao | 1158 | 3 | Western Xia |
| 73 | Longxing Yuan Bao | 1163 | 1 | Southern Song |
| 74 | Qiandao Yuan Bao | 1165 | 2 | Southern Song |
| 75 | Chunxi Yuan Bao | 1174 | 2,366 | Southern Song |
| 76 | Da Ding Tong Bao | 1178 | 22 | Jin |
| 77 | Shaoxi Yuan Bao | 1190 | 774 | Southern Song |
| 78 | Qingyuan Tong Bao | 1195 | 938 | Southern Song |
| 79 | Jiatai Tong Bao | 1201 | 549 | Southern Song |
| 80 | Kaixi Tong Bao | 1205 | 356 | Southern Song |
| 81 | Jiading Tong Bao | 1208 | 1,735 | Southern Song |
| 82 | Dasong Yuan Bao | 1225 | 84 | Southern Song |
| 83 | Shaoding Tong Bao | 1228 | 614 | Southern Song |
| 84 | Duanping Yuan Bao | 1234 | 49 | Southern Song |
| 85 | Jiaxi Tong Bao | 1237 | 161 | Southern Song |
| 86 | Chunyou Yuan Bao | 1241 | 530 | Southern Song |
| 87 | Huangsong Yuan Bao | 1253 | 285 | Southern Song |
| 88 | Kaiqing Tong Bao | 1259 | 20 | Southern Song |
| 89 | Jingding Yuan Bao | 1260 | 475 | Southern Song |
| 90 | Xianchun Yuan Bao | 1265 | 583 | Southern Song |
| 91 | Zhi Da Tong Bao | 1310 | 110 | Yuan |
| 92 | Zhi Zheng Tong Bao | 1341 | 3 | Yuan |
| 93 | Hongwu Tongbao | 1368 | 12 | Ming |
| | | | 12,901 | Unidentified |
| Total | | | 374,435 | |