Kikkawa Motoharu

Kikkawa Motoharu, second son of Mōri Motonari, was placed at the head of the Kikkawa clan of Aki, a long-established warrior family settled in the north of the province since the 14th century. With his elder brother Kobayakawa Takakage, he formed one of the two pillars on which the power of the Mōri rested, while Motoharu concentrated mainly on campaigns in the San'in region, on the Sea of Japan. In 1550 he established the clan's seat at Hinoyama Castle, a large mountain castle overlooking the Shinjō basin, which succeeded the earlier seats of Surugamaru and Ogurayama. After the Bitchū-Takamatsu campaign of 1582, he decided to hand over the leadership of the clan to his eldest son Motonaga and, from about 1583, had a retirement residence built at the foot of Mount Hino, now preserved together with its garden and its large stone wall. Together with the family temples, these sites form the Kikkawa sites designated a National Historic Site.