Konosumiyama Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Hyōgo

Konosumiyama Castle occupies a hill about 140 m high, some two kilometres north of the small historic town of Izushi, now part of Toyooka, in northern Hyōgo Prefecture. It should not be confused with the castles of the Inland Sea coast: it was here, in the former province of Tajima on the San'in road, that the Yamana clan, one of the most powerful warrior houses of the Muromachi period, established its main stronghold and the seat of its provincial government. According to tradition, Yamana Moroyoshi had it built in 1372-1374. The castle remained the heart of Yamana power until the invasion of Tajima by Oda Nobunaga's troops under Hashiba Hideyoshi, which forced Yamana Suketoyo to flee to Sakai. On his return in 1570 he settled at nearby Arikoyama Castle, and Konosumiyama was abandoned. With no buildings or stone walls, the site preserves above all a remarkable set of terraces (kuruwa) cut along three ridges, ditches and residential areas, witnesses of a great medieval mountain castle. Since 1996 it has been protected together with Arikoyama as the National Historic Site of the 'Yamana clan castles'.