Shikiyama Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Yamaguchi

Shikiyama Castle stands on the slopes of Mount Yahazugatake, north of Hōfu, on the left bank of the Sabagawa River, in the former province of Suō. It was not a fortress built from scratch: in 1336, at the beginning of the Nanboku-chō period, provincial officials loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo turned the mountain temple Genkan-ji into a stronghold, its main hall serving as the central keep. There they confronted the supporters of Ashikaga Takauji, who had just risen against the Kenmu Restoration. The siege, led by the troops of Ueno Yorikane, military governor of Iwami, is said to have lasted about ten days. When the stronghold fell, the loyalist leaders Settsu Jokō Seison and Jōhōgan Kyōjō took their own lives. Of this short-lived temple-castle only a few foundation stones of the main hall remain today, at the heart of a site designated a National Historic Site in 1935. A memorial ceremony for the fallen is held there every year on 2 August, and the site is reached on foot after a bus ride from Hōfu Station.