Sano Castle

Sano, Japan, Japan

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Sano Castle is the ruin of a small, short-lived Edo-period hill castle in what is now the city of Sano in Tochigi Prefecture, northern Kantō, Japan.

It was built in 1602 by the Sano clan after they were ordered to move from their earlier, more powerful mountain fortress, Karasawayama Castle, which stood nearby on a 247-meter ridge and had been in use since the 10th century (traditionally 927) and was considered one of the seven great Kantō fortresses.

The new Sano Castle was a less substantial, lower-hill replacement that existed only until 1614, when the Sano clan fell out with the Tokugawa shogunate, were expelled, and their lands were seized, leaving the castle abandoned and in ruins. Today almost nothing of the 12-year castle remains except roughly three baileys marking its footprint, while the more famous and historically significant nearby ruins of Karasawayama Castle (now protected as a National Historic Site and part of the 100 Great Castles of Japan) are often grouped with Sano Castle in local discussions of the area’s castle history.