Kaguraoka Castle

There are no clear ruins for this site but it has not been well studied either. It is one I'm asked about occasionally by visitors to Kyoto who find it on maps, so I decided to check it out one afternoon this spring when I was in the area. It was just happenstance that I ended up around here so I d

History

The earliest record of a fortification here is 1336 when Ashikaga Takauji used it as an encampment in his fight against Emperor Godaigo. Hosokawa Harumoto had an encampment here in 1550 and in 1561 Matsunaga Hisahide's forces attacked Miyoshi forces who had holed up at the same site. Being the closest high point to central Kyoto made it a strategic and desirable location for many. Oda Nobunaga even had it scouted by Shibata Katsuie to build a castle, but it was deemed unsuitable for a modern castle. The site was likely abandoned as a fortification at this time.

Field Notes

There are no clear ruins for this site but it has not been well studied either. It is one I'm asked about occasionally by visitors to Kyoto who find it on maps, so I decided to check it out one afternoon this spring when I was in the area. It was just happenstance that I ended up around here so I didn't even have my good camera with me. The castle sat at the endpoint of the mountain known as Yoshida-yama at the current site of the Munetada Shrine. It is one of the few high points in the city and especially this close to the center made it a useful defensive position. Along the mountaintop you can also reach the famous Yoshida Shrine and Yoshidayama Park. The road behind the Munetada Shrine clearly goes straight up one side across the top and down the other. There are no other similar roads on Yoshida-yama and it seems to be slightly cutout, unusual for a road. This is thought to have been a horikiri type trench separating the castle from the rest of the mountain.

Loading map...

{"format":"leaflet","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"limit":500,"offset":0,"link":"all","sort":["order"],"order":[],"headers":"show","mainlabel":"","intro":"","outro":"","searchlabel":"... further results","default":"","import-annotation":false,"width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Darkred18.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":14,"layers":["Esri.WorldTopoMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","showtitle":false,"hidenamespace":true,"template":"InfoWindowProfile","userparam":"","activeicon":"","pagelabel":false,"ajaxcoordproperty":"","ajaxquery":"","locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka1.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka1.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/1/16/Kaguraoka1.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka1.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/1/16/Kaguraoka1.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka1.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/1/16/Kaguraoka1.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka1.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-0--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02333,"lon":135.78602,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka2.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka2.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/a/a8/Kaguraoka2.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka2.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/a/a8/Kaguraoka2.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka2.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/a/a8/Kaguraoka2.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka2.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-1--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02335,"lon":135.7861,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka3.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka3.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/7/77/Kaguraoka3.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka3.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/7/77/Kaguraoka3.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka3.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/7/77/Kaguraoka3.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka3.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-2--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02255,"lon":135.78588,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka5.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka5.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/b/bc/Kaguraoka5.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka5.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/b/bc/Kaguraoka5.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka5.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/b/bc/Kaguraoka5.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka5.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-3--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02285,"lon":135.78587,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka4.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka4.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/a/a3/Kaguraoka4.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka4.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/a/a3/Kaguraoka4.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka4.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/a/a3/Kaguraoka4.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka4.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-4--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02306,"lon":135.78581,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kaguraoka6.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kaguraoka6.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/a/af/Kaguraoka6.jpg/125px-Kaguraoka6.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/a/af/Kaguraoka6.jpg/188px-Kaguraoka6.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/a/af/Kaguraoka6.jpg/250px-Kaguraoka6.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-5--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02327,"lon":135.78507,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"}],"imageLayers":[]}

Gallery

• 
• 

  possible horikiri
• 
• 
• 
• 

Castle Profile
English Name	Kaguraoka Castle
Japanese Name	神楽岡城
Founder	Ashikaga Takauji
Year Founded	1336
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features
Visitor Information
Access
Hours	shrine, open any time
Time Required	15 mins
Location	Kyoto, Kyoto
Coordinates	35.02268, 135.78515
Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":6,"defzoom":14,"layers":["CartoDB.Positron"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":35.02268,"lon":135.78515,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2024
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2024
Admin Visits	June 1, 2024

1.00

(one vote)

Loading comments...