Yakami Castle

This is a castle I had wanted to visit for many years since it was highly recommended to me by Shiro Megumi Fan on one of my trips to the area. Unfortunately, until recently, it was a bit difficult to reach. You could only cycle 7.5km from Sasayamaguchi Station or bus to the downtown Sasayama Castle

Field Notes

This is a castle I had wanted to visit for many years since it was highly recommended to me by Shiro Megumi Fan on one of my trips to the area. Unfortunately, until recently, it was a bit difficult to reach. You could only cycle 7.5km from Sasayamaguchi Station or bus to the downtown Sasayama Castle and then walk the 4km to the trailhead, but who wants to spend most of their day walking to and from a trailhead if you're in such a castle rich area as Sasayama! Since they started renting bicycles from the Sasayama Castle tourist information center, however, it became much more approachable by cycling the 4km instead. This also allowed me to comfortably visit nearby Okudani Castle, Hannyaji Castle, and take a quick revisit tour through Sasayama Castle too.

The trail up the castle is very well maintained and all the key baileys are signposted. The kyokan residence area at the foot of the mountain however, deserves more attention. Off the main trail there are some interesting earthworks that you can find by going off the trail. It was quite a large kyokan area so a little more effort would really increase the interest for this already valuable castle site.

At the top of the castle around the main baileys there was once a lot of stonework. Some has crumbled over time, but much is now buried in weeds. I heard from other castle explorers that before they cut all the trees around the mountaintop the stonework was much more visible. Again, a little more maintenance would go a long way to making this a significantly more impressive site. I'd be happy to volunteer some weekend!

As of November 2024, the lower section of the eastern trail up to the castle is partly closed off near the bottom due to a landslide/washout area. After visiting all the castle related ruins I had to go back up the mountain and retrace my steps back on the same route.

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Gallery

part of an original chaya nearby

Castle Profile
English Name	Yakami Castle
Japanese Name	八上城
Founder
Year Founded
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	trenches, stone walls
Visitor Information
Access	Sasayamaguchi Station, bus,
Hours	Mountain trails, open any time
Time Required
URL	Castle Website
Location	, Hyogo Prefecture
Coordinates	35.06185, 135.25614
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2025
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2024
Admin Visits	November 7, 2024

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