Kōnomine Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Yamaguchi

Overlooking the city of Yamaguchi from the summit of Mount Kōnomine (338 metres), Kōnomine Castle is the last major military work of the Ōuchi clan, one of the most powerful families of western Japan in the 16th century. Its head, Ōuchi Yoshinaga, had it built in 1556-1557 to protect his residence on the plain against the advance of Mōri Motonari, but the castle was not finished when the Mōri entered Yamaguchi in 1557: Yoshinaga abandoned it and took his own life shortly afterwards, marking the end of the Ōuchi. The Mōri then completed the fortress and installed a governor; in 1569 it withstood the reconquest attempt led by Ōuchi Teruhiro. Dismantled after the 1615 one-castle-per-province edict, the site was finally abandoned in 1638. At the summit remain a main enclosure lined with stone walls, foundation stones and roof-tile fragments, reached by hiking trails from the foot of the mountain. The site is part of the "Ōuchi clan remains" designated a National Historic Site in 1959 and has been listed among the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles since 2017.