Mitake Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Mitake Castle crowns Mount Mitake, at about 467 metres above sea level, north-east of the Iinoya valley, in Hamana Ward, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. A refuge fortress of the Ii clan, lords of the former province of Tōtōmi, it complemented the lowland residence of Iinoya, some 2.5 km away. During the wars between the Northern and Southern Courts, the Ii sheltered Prince Muneyoshi, son of Emperor Go-Daigo, here before the stronghold fell to Northern Court supporters around 1340. In the 16th century it again became a stake against the Imagawa clan, who seized it in 1513 after several years of fighting. The site was abandoned in 1590, when Ii Naomasa followed Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Kantō. No building has survived, but the summit enclosure of some fifty metres, a long earthen rampart faced with stone in places, dry moats and an eastern enclosure over 200 m long still form a legible ensemble. Designated a National Historic Site as early as 1944, the summit offers a wide view over Lake Hamana.