Kanegasaki Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Fukui

On a small hill about 86 m high jutting out over the bay in north-eastern Tsuruga, Kanegasaki Castle is a mountain fortress whose history spans more than four centuries of warfare. The site is said to have been fortified as early as the Genpei War by Taira no Michimori against Kiso Yoshinaka. It is best known for two episodes. In 1337, Southern Court partisans led by followers of Nitta Yoshisada were besieged there for many months by the troops of Ashikaga Takauji, until they were reduced to eating their horses; when the stronghold fell, Prince Takanaga, Nitta Yoshiaki and some three hundred men perished. In 1570, Oda Nobunaga, campaigning against the Asakura of Echizen, took Kanegasaki before learning of the defection of his brother-in-law Azai Nagamasa; threatened with encirclement, he had to retreat towards Kyōto, while Kinoshita Tōkichirō, the future Toyotomi Hideyoshi, covered the withdrawal as rearguard. No buildings remain, but earth and stone terraces, dry moats and foundations survive in the woods. A National Historic Site since 1934, the site is associated with Kanegasaki-gū shrine, founded in the Meiji period at the foot of the hill, and offers a fine view over the port of Tsuruga.