Takayama Castle (Yamato)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Nara

Takayama Castle stands on a 217-metre hill in the north of present-day Ikoma, south of Kurozoe Pond. The site commanded the Takayama estate, a road junction between Nara and Kyoto where the provinces of Yamato, Kawachi and Yamashiro met. It was the seat of the local Takayama clan (鷹山氏), minor lords recorded as early as 1420 as stewards of the estate and closely tied to the powerful Kōfuku-ji temple. This mountain castle stretches along a north-south ridge about 200 metres long. Three groups of platforms sit side by side: the summit platform, regarded as the main enclosure; a second terrace with a very steep southern flank, where a thirteen-storey stone pagoda now stands; and a third enclosure edged with earthen banks. First mentioned in 1498, the site sheltered Ashikaga Yoshimi during the Ōnin War and was burned by Matsunaga Hisahide in 1559. A hiking trail, laid out in 2006 so as to avoid the remains, leads up to it.