Château de Yamanaka, Mountain fortress in Mikawa Province, Japan
Château de Yamanaka is a mountain fortress in Mikawa Province built on a roughly 120-meter-high hill and stretching about 400 meters from east to west. Two streams form natural defensive lines around the fortification.
The Saigo clan built this fortification around 1500 as their military base in the region. The site became a focal point for conflicts with the Matsudaira clan across the Otogawa River.
The castle displays traditional Japanese military architecture through its multiple baileys and earthen walls built into the mountainside. These structures reflect how people lived and defended themselves here centuries ago.
The castle entrance is controlled by a semi-circular defensive structure called Umadashi that guides visitors through carefully designed winding paths. Dry moats and narrow passages make navigation through the site somewhat challenging, so allow time to explore.
The fortress features northward-facing tatebori trenches with V-shaped profiles that demonstrate advanced medieval Japanese defensive engineering. This precise placement of trenches along the mountainside was key to its defensive strategy.
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