Yamanaka Castle

Yamanaka Castle (山中城, Yamanaka-jō) was a Sengoku period yamajiro-style Japanese castle, built by the Odawara Hōjō clan in Tagata District, Izu Province, in what is now eastern Mishima, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The ruins have been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1988.

Yamanaka Castle overlooks the strategic Tōkaidō highway halfway of western slope of Hakone Pass. The Tōkaidō highway was the main route between Kyoto and the Kantō region of Japan. The castle has a long and narrow structure, consisting of two lines of connected enclosures extending west and south of the second bailey, which is located just below the inner bailey. These enclosures are protected by deep, wet and dry moats, which were divided into small compartments to further complicate the movement of attackers.

The late Hōjō clan was based at Odawara Castle in far western Sagami Province and only a few kilometers from the border with Suruga Province ruled by the Imagawa clan. The Hōjō and Imagawa maintained an alliance; however, after the fall of the Imagawa clan, Suruga was occupied by the Takeda clan of Kai Province and the Hōjō territories were threatened. This threat did not diminish after the Takeda clan was destroyed by an alliance between Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, both of whom were at odds against the Hōjō. Yamanaka Castle was built by Hōjō Ujiyasu in the Eiroku era (1558–1577) to guard against this threat.

Despite the growing tension between the Hōjō and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, only a modest attempt was made to strength the defenses of the castle in 1586. When the Toyotomi armies attacked Odawara in 1590, Hideyoshi ordered Toyotomi Hidetsugu and Tokugawa Ieyasu to reduce Yamanaka Castle as quickly as possible, as it lie directly in his line of communications between the front lines and Osaka. In March, the two commanders attacked Yamanaka castle with 50,000 soldiers. In response, Hōjō Ujikatsu resisted with only 4,000 troops. Despite the disparity in numbers, the Toyotomi forces took heavy losses, including one general, Hitotsuyanagi Naosue; however, the castle fell in only a half day of combat and most of its defenders were killed.

Yamanaka Castle was not rebuilt during the Edo period, and the site reverted to forest. All that remains are fragmentary portions of its moats and earthworks.

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

Yamanaka Castle ranks #2,322 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #139 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1469, it is older than 48% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 454 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,592 times in the last 60 days, more than 83% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Sagamihara, 58 km away. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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