Hanakuma Castle, Japanese castle in Hanakuma-chō, Japan
Hanakuma Castle is a Japanese castle in Hanakuma-chō near Kōbe that spanned a strip of land between Mount Rokkō and the coastline. The site measures roughly 700 meters from east to west and 230 meters from north to south, sitting in a narrow passage that travelers had to cross.
Oda Nobunaga ordered the construction of the castle in 1567, and it became a stronghold for Araki Murashige. Ikeda Tsuneoki's forces captured the fortress in 1580, ending Murashige's control over the area.
The walls and roof tiles from the castle period now rest at Fukutoku Temple, where visitors can also see memorial stones for former residents. These remains offer a tangible sense of how fortifications were built in 16th-century Japan.
The former main bailey area now holds both an underground parking facility and a public park with stone markers showing historical points. Visitors can walk among the markers to get a sense of the layout of the compound.
The site used the natural bottleneck between mountain and sea so that no one could pass unnoticed. This geographic position made the fortress a control point for all movement along the coast.
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