Tsutsujigasaki Fortified Residence

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Yamanashi

At the foot of the mountains that close the Kōfu basin to the north, the Tsutsujigasaki fortified residence (Takeda-shi yakata) was for more than sixty years the political heart of Kai Province and the Takeda clan. Takeda Nobutora had it built in 1519, moving his seat there and laying out around it the lordly town that would become Kōfu. His son Takeda Shingen, one of the most famous warlords of the Sengoku period, made it his main residence after ousting his father, and it was from here that he directed his campaigns into Shinano and against Uesugi Kenshin. Rather than a castle with a keep, it is a large lowland residence of about 284 m by 193 m, divided into enclosures and protected by moats and earthen embankments. Takeda Katsuyori left it for Shinpu Castle in 1581, shortly before the fall of the clan in 1582, and the site lost its role after Kōfu Castle was built. Since 1919 the Takeda Shrine has occupied the central enclosure, while moats, earthen ramparts and fortified entrances remain visible around it. A National Historic Site since 1938, it is one of the Top 100 Japanese Castles.