Akakina Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Kagoshima

Akakina Castle (Akakina gusuku) crowns Kamiyama, a hill of about one hundred metres overlooking Kasari Bay on the northwest coast of Amami Ōshima, in the Kasari district of the city of Amami. Its ridge, some 300 metres long from north to south, makes it one of the largest fortified sites in the Amami archipelago. Used since the Middle Ages, as shown by ceramics from the 11th to the 18th centuries, it is thought to have reached its greatest extent between the 15th and early 17th centuries, when the Ryukyu Kingdom and powers from Kyūshū were contending for the islands. Remarkably, this gusuku does not resemble the Ryukyuan fortresses with high limestone walls: its enclosures, earthen ramparts, transverse ditches and vertical trenches, together with the eight tiers of terraces on the western slope, recall the mountain castles of Kyūshū and reflect Japanese influence. Its defensive layout faces the bay, the key to maritime control. In the Edo period the site hosted a daikan's office and a Kannon temple linked to the Shimazu. It has been a National Historic Site since 2009.