Yōgaisan Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Yamanashi

Overlooking the northern Kofu basin from Mount Yōgai at about 780 metres, this mountain castle served as the fortified refuge (tsumeshiro) of the Tsutsujigasaki residence, the seat of the Takeda clan below. Takeda Nobutora had it built in 1520, a year after moving his residence to Tsutsujigasaki, on a height near Sekisui-ji temple. In 1521, when troops from Suruga under Fukushima Masanari invaded Kai Province, his wife Lady Ōi took refuge here and gave birth to the future Takeda Shingen; a stele commemorates the birth. After the fall of the Takeda in 1582, the site passed to the Tokugawa and then to lords loyal to the Toyotomi, and Katō Mitsuyasu had it repaired in the 1590s. Visitors climbing the trail from Sekisui-ji find a succession of terraces, angled gateways, transverse and vertical moats and remarkably well-preserved stone walls, as well as a small outwork, Kuma-jō, on the eastern slope. The site has been a National Historic Site since 1991.