- Type
- Castle
- Origins
- 1526 · 16th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
- Coordinates
- 34.3378°, 134.9030°
History
The castle on the narrow ridge of Mount Mikuma, about 130 metres above the Awaji coast, was built in 1526 by Atagi Haruoki, a retainer of the Miyoshi clan, who then ruled the island and neighbouring provinces. Awaji lay on the route between Honshū and Shikoku and guarded the approach to Osaka Bay, so in 1581 Hashiba Hideyoshi seized it and gave the castle to Sengoku Hidehisa. From 1585 it was held by Wakizaka Yasuharu, who enlarged the fortress into the form that largely survives, with a keep and with walls running down the slope, modelled on the castles the Japanese built in Korea. After the Battle of Sekigahara the Ikeda clan left Sumoto for Yura Castle, but after 1615 the island went to the Hachisuka of Tokushima, whose governors, the Inada family, moved both their seat and the entire town back from Yura to Sumoto in 1631–1635. From then on power was exercised from the residence at the foot of the mountain, known as the lower castle, where the Inada ruled until the Meiji Restoration.
What to see
The upper castle has been a National Historic Site since 1999; the terraced baileys, a pond, stairways and extensive stone walls survive, including the rare walls that run down the slope to link the upper and lower castles. On the keep base stands a small reinforced concrete keep built in 1928 to mark the enthronement of Emperor Hirohito, regarded as the oldest mock castle keep in Japan; since its 2013 repairs it is no longer open as a viewpoint, but the keep base itself looks out over Ōhama beach and the town. The summit can be reached on foot from central Sumoto. The site of the lower castle holds the city's Awaji Cultural History Museum, whose collections include material on the castle, and the Kintenkaku guest pavilion was moved to the grounds of Sumoto Hachiman Shrine.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q5369846
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