Kasugayama Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Niigata

Set on a wooded hill overlooking the Kubiki plain and the Sea of Japan, Kasugayama Castle is one of the great mountain fortresses of the Sengoku period. Established by the Nagao clan, it became the seat of the famous warlord Uesugi Kenshin, who made it the centre of his power over Echigo Province from the mid-16th century. The castle had no monumental keep: its strength lay in its use of the terrain, with a network of terraces cut into the slopes, dry moats, earthen embankments and wells spread across the whole mountain. After the Uesugi were transferred to Aizu in 1598, the Hori clan briefly occupied it before abandoning it around 1607 in favour of new strongholds on the plain. Today no buildings survive, but the earthworks, designated a National Historic Site, can be explored on foot from Kasugayama Shrine, where a statue of Kenshin stands. From the site of the main bailey, at about 180 metres, the view takes in the plain, the city of Jōetsu and the coast.