Ruins of Kami Akasaka Castle

Chihayaakasaka, Japan, Japan

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The Ruins of Kami Akasaka Castle, located in the village of Chihayaakasaka in Minamikawachi District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, are the remains of a late Kamakura-period mountain castle that played a key role in the 14th-century wars between imperial loyalists and the Kamakura shogunate.

The site is also known as Kusunoki Castle or Kiriyama Castle, named after the famous imperial supporter Kusunoki Masashige, who withdrew here after the failed Genkō War of 1331 and used it as a base with nearby fortifications like Shimo-Akasaka and Chihaya Castle to continue resistance against the shogunate.

Designed as a classic yamajiro (mountain castle), Kami-Akasaka consists of several enclosures linked along a ridge from Mount Kongō, protected by dry moats and gates, forming an “H” shape that connects two peaks and the saddle between them, with a narrow path leading from the entrance to the inner strongest area called the honmaru.

The castle fell after about two weeks when the shogunate forces cut off its water supply, and it later served the Southern Court during the Nanboku-chō period until its final defeat in 1360, after which it was slowly abandoned and now survives mainly as earthworks and stone-running lines rather than standing buildings.