Ishigakiyama Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Kanagawa

Perched at about 262 metres on Mount Kasagake, west of Odawara, Ishigakiyama Castle is one of the most striking testimonies to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's strategy. In 1590, during the siege of Odawara, the warlord had a true stone castle, with fully masonry walls and a keep, built on this hill overlooking the Hōjō fortress. The work, carried out for about eighty days behind a screen of trees, was completed at the end of June; the sudden clearing of the trees then revealed the structure to the besieged, hence its nickname "Ichiya-jō", the castle built in one night. This show of power contributed to the Hōjō surrender a few days later. Designed as a temporary base, the castle was then abandoned. Its stone enclosures, partly disrupted by the 1923 earthquake, survive notably around the well of the Ido-kuruwa. Designated a National Historic Site in 1959, the site is today a municipal historical park offering a wide view over Odawara and Sagami Bay.