Tsunomure Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture d'Ōita

Tsunomure Castle stands at the summit of Mount Tsunomure, about 576 metres high, above the Kusu basin in Ōita Prefecture. Its position commanded the routes linking the provinces of Bungo and Buzen. Tradition dates its foundation to the late 13th century, but it is first mentioned in writing in 1475. During the Sengoku period the local warriors known as the Kusu-gunshū strengthened it amid the struggles between the Ōuchi and the Ōtomo, and in 1586 the stronghold repelled the army of Shimazu Yoshihiro, earning its reputation as an impregnable castle. From 1594 to 1600 Mōri Takamasa turned it into a modern-style fortress with stone walls, tile-roofed gates and corner towers. After the creation of the Mori domain in 1601, the administration moved to the foot of the mountain, where the castle town survives. Excavations carried out from 1993 to 1995 revealed the access stairway of the honmaru and the bases of the main gate. The great stone wall of the rear gate, about 7 metres high and 100 metres long, remains the most spectacular feature of this National Historic Site, listed among the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles.