Takatō Castle

Takatō Castle (高遠城, Takatō-jō) is a Japanese castle located in the city of Ina, southern Nagano Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Takatō Castle was home to a cadet branch of the Naitō clan, daimyō of Takatō Domain. The castle was also known as Kabuto Castle (兜山城, Kabuto-jō). Built sometime in the 16th century, it is now largely in ruins.

Takato Castle is located on a hill in the former Takatō Town on the eastern edge of central Ina Valley in southern Nagano Prefecture. The location was a crossroads on the Akiba Kaidō, a highway connecting Tōtōmi province with the Suwa region of Shinano and Kai Province and a road which led to the western portion of the Ina valley and Mino Province. When viewed from the standpoint of Kai Province, the area was a key point in the control of southern Shinano. The castle site overlooks the confluence of the Mibugawa River and the Fujisawa River, which forms part of its natural defenses. Deep trenches, earthen ramparts and stone walls in concentric rings form the defensive structures in a style typical of construction under Takeda Shingen.

The Central Bailey (Hon-maru) was protected to the northwest and northeast by the Second Bailey (Ni-no-maru) and Third Bailey (San-no-maru) along with four enclosures: the Suwa-kuruwa ( 諏訪曲輪), Sasa-kuruwa ( 笹曲輪), Minami-kuruwa ( 南曲輪) and Hōdōji-kuruwa ( 法幢寺曲輪). Most of the gates were box-shaped gates, which added to the defenses. In the Edo period, front gate of the castle was changed from east side to west side, which directly faced the jōkamachi. The han school, built in 1860, was located in the Third Bailey. A few samurai residences have survived in the town.

The original date of construction of Takatō Castle is unknown, however before its construction, there was originally another fortification on the same site, controlled by the Takatō clan, retainers of the Suwa clan, who had dominated the area since the Kamakura period.

Suwa Yorishige had an alliance with the Takeda clan, but this was broken by Takeda Shingen in 1545 during his campaign to conquer southern Shinano Province and the castle was seized by Takeda forces. Takatō Yoritsugu relied on support from his allies, Ogasawara Nagatoki and Tozawa Yorichika, however, they failed to come to his aid.

Text adapted from “Takatō Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Takatō Castle ranks #1,699 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #100 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded c. 1550, it is older than 39% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,417 times in the last 60 days, more than 86% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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