Sakado Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Niigata

Sakado Castle occupies the summit and slopes of Mount Sakado, a 634-metre ridge overlooking the Uono valley and today's city of Minamiuonuma, near the old border between Echigo and the Kantō. Founded towards the end of the 14th century by the Ueda branch of the Nagao clan, it controlled the Mikuni kaidō road and long remained one of the major strongholds of Echigo. It was at the foot of this mountain that Uesugi Kagekatsu, son of the lord Nagao Masakage, and his loyal adviser Naoe Kanetsugu were born. The site is a typical mountain castle of the Sengoku period: a multitude of terraces stepped along the slopes, a small circular main enclosure at the summit later reinforced with stone walls, a second flattened peak bearing a watchtower, transverse moats and more than a hundred vertical trenches on the hillsides. The lord's residence on the western slope still retains a low stone wall and earthen ramparts. Abandoned in 1608, the castle is now a park crossed by trails and has been a National Historic Site since 1979.