Furufumoto Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Kumamoto

Furufumoto Castle is a vast complex of mountain forts set on the ridges that overlook, in Yatsushiro, the mouth of the Kuma River and the surrounding plain. Founded in 1335 under the authority of the Nawa family, loyal to the Southern Court, it became one of that camp's strongholds in Kyūshū, close to the seat of the southern government established at Yatsushiro. For nearly two and a half centuries it was contested between the Nawa, the Sagara from Hitoyoshi and then the Shimazu, before hosting Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587 during his conquest of the island. The complex comprised seven forts: five attributed to the Nawa, including Iimori-jō and Hacchōdake-jō, and two to the Sagara, Takamine-jō and Shinjō. It was abandoned at the end of the 16th century, when Konishi Yukinaga had Mugishima Castle built near the port. The most legible remains, the terraces, platforms and moats of Shinjō, can be reached by a maintained trail. Since 2014 the site has been protected as a National Historic Site as part of the Yatsushiro Castle Ruins group, together with Mugishima and Yatsushiro.