Somayama Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Perched on Mount Somayama, a 492-metre peak closing off the southern end of the Nanjō Basin, Somayama Castle (杣山城) is one of the great mountain fortresses of the former Echizen Province. The site controlled a narrow passage on the Hokuriku road, the route linking Echizen with Kyoto, while the Hino River and its tributaries protect it on three sides. Held by the Uryū clan at the end of the Kamakura period, it became during the wars between the two courts the main stronghold of the Southern Court in the province: Nitta Yoshisada withdrew there after the siege of Kanegasaki in 1337. It later passed to the Shiba and then to the Asakura, before being abandoned during Oda Nobunaga's conquest of Echizen. No buildings survive, but the summit terraces, the flattened areas of the east and west palaces with their foundation stones, the pond that served as a water reserve and the residence at the foot of the mountain, excavated in the 1970s, form an ensemble of about 170 hectares protected as a National Historic Site. Hiking trails maintained by the town of Minamiechizen link these remains.