Hekitani Castle

This is a marvelous earthworks castle with unejotatebori (consecutive vertical trenches) surrounding the main bailey. This is one of those rare features that many castle people get excited about when it is well preserved and Hekitani Castle certainly is. This site should be more well known than wha

History

The history of Hekitani castle is mostly unknown. It is clearly a well designed and fortified castle along a key road. Given the position in relation to Kanbayashi Castle it may have been a satellite castle intended to watch over this route of travel. However, the unejotatebori design is clearly a later Sengoku Period construction. At this time, the region would have likely been under the control of Akechi Mitsuhide so Mitsuhide may have reinforced an existing castle for the Tanba campaigns. The Kanbayashi allied with Mitsuhide earlier than others in the region so this may have been fortified for their pacification. Regardless we have a brilliant late Sengoku Period mountaintop castle with unejotatebori that seems to have been untouched since that period. It is a rich contribution to castle history.

Field Notes

This is a marvelous earthworks castle with unejotatebori (consecutive vertical trenches) surrounding the main bailey. This is one of those rare features that many castle people get excited about when it is well preserved and Hekitani Castle certainly is. This site should be more well known than what it is but it's also not the easiest one to get to. Jokaku Horoki has a very nicely drawn map that illustrates the unejotatebori very well. https://www.hb.pei.jp/shiro/tanba/hekitani-naka-jyo/m_nawabarizu.jpg

There are no signs for this castle but I figured out roughly where it should be. I was looking up at the ridge from the "left" side of the temple, from which another blogger supposedly scaled the steep hillside, and I was thinking if this was really the best way or if it was even worth the effort when I heard someone shouting from over at the other side of the temple. It was a woman I had passed on the stairs to the temple earlier. At first I thought "oh no, they don't want me fooling around here or going up to the castle. I walked all this way for nothing!". So I walked over to the woman who was shouting something and what she actually said was "Are you looking for the castle?". She then proceeded to give me better directions how to more easily go around the side of the temple, take the pathway up to the cemetary from the residential area, and on the other side of the cemetary you will see an 'easier' route up the ridge top. Once up there it will be easy going to the castle. She was absolutely right. She may have been worried and waited for me to come down... 90 mins later and when I cam rambling down the stairs she said "you were up there a long time! I thought I'd have to come looking for you hahahaEric (Admin) (talk)!" This was certainly one of those "only in Japan" moments!

To find the trail go to the road along the "right" side of the temple between the temple and residential area. You should see the stairs in the photo below. Follow these to the cemetery and there will be a small trail in the back.

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Gallery

Take these stairs

Castle Profile
English Name	Hekitani Castle
Japanese Name	日置谷城
Founder	Kanbayashi clan?
Year Founded	mid 1500's ?
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	trenches
Visitor Information
Access	Ayabe Sta, 35 min bus, 10 min walk
Hours	mountain; open 24x7
Time Required	60 mins
Location	Ayabe, Kyoto
Coordinates	35.36722, 135.4091
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2024
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2024
Admin Visits	April 14, 2024
Friends of JCastle
Jokaku Horoki
Yamajiro Sanka

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