Nobori-ishigaki Stone Walls (登り石垣)
The Nobori-ishigaki, or "climbing stone walls", are one of Hikone Castle's most distinctive defensive features. Built along the mountain slope, they linked the lower and upper fortifications and prevented attackers from moving freely across the hillside. Only a small number of Japanese castles retain such structures.
Adjacent to the walls stands the Ninomaru Sawaguchi Tamon-yagura (二の丸沢口多聞櫓), an Important Cultural Property dating from the Edo period. The Sawaguchi entrance (沢口) was one of four gateways through the castle's middle moat (nakabori, 中堀). Originally, it was protected by a Kōraimon gate (高麗門) and an inner Yaguramon gate (櫓門) set at a right angle, creating a defensible, winding approach to the castle.
