Kiyoshiki Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Kagoshima

Kiyoshiki Castle occupies the tip of a tongue of the shirasu plateau, the volcanic ash deposits typical of southern Kyūshū, at about one hundred metres above the Iriki district of Satsumasendai. For several centuries it was the seat of the Iriki-in clan, a branch of the Shibuya family who came from Sagami Province after the Battle of Hōji in 1247. These local lords, who changed sides several times during the Northern and Southern Courts period before submitting to the Shimazu, only left the site in 1613 to settle in Kagoshima. Their family archives, studied by the historian Asakawa Kan'ichi, have become a reference for the history of medieval warrior society. The interest of the site lies in its plan: over about 750 metres east to west and 600 metres north to south, sixteen independent enclosures are cut out by deep dry moats carved vertically into the shirasu around a central enclosure. Earthworks, tower platforms and fortified entrances are still legible, while the nearby rivers serve as natural moats. At the foot of the castle, the samurai village of Iriki-fumoto extends the visit.