Kami-Akasaka Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture d'Osaka

Perched on the wooded heights of Chihaya-Akasaka, at the foot of the Kongō range, Kami-Akasaka Castle ("Upper Akasaka") is known in Japan as Kusunoki Castle: it is regarded as the main castle of Kusunoki Masashige, the loyalist warrior who backed Emperor Go-Daigo against the Kamakura shogunate. Together with Shimo-Akasaka and Chihaya it formed a network of mountain fortresses commanding the routes between Kawachi and Yamato provinces. In early 1333 the garrison led by Kusunoki Masasue, Masashige's brother, withstood a fierce siege by the shogunate's armies before yielding, after inflicting heavy losses on the attackers. No buildings survive: today visitors find terraces (kuruwa) and horizontal moats following the contour lines, probably remodelled in the Sengoku period. The site has been protected since 1934 as a National Historic Site under the name "Kusunoki-jō ato (Kami-Akasaka-jō ato)" and is one of the many places in the village associated with the memory of Masashige.