Takatori Castle

Takatori Castle is located atop Mount Takatori (583 meters above sea level, with an elevation gain of about 350 meters) in Takatori Town, Takaichi District, Nara Prefecture. Because of its location on a steep mountaintop, it is also known as Takatori-yamajō (Mount Takatori Castle). It is one of the Three Great Mountain Castles of Japan, along with Bitchū Matsuyama Castle (Okayama) and Iwamura Castle (Gifu), and is renowned for its massive scale and formidable defenses. The castle site covers about 60,000 square meters, with its perimeter extending approximately 30 kilometers, making it one of the largest mountain castles in Japan. Its white-plastered keep and 29 turrets once stood majestically on the summit, appearing from below like snow covering the mountain. This led to the famous verse: “Looking southeast, Takatori seems covered in white snow — but it is not snow, it is the castle of Tosa.” (Tosa being the old name for Takatori).

The origins of Takatori Castle date back to the Nanboku-chō period, when it was said to have been constructed in 1332 by Ochi Kunizumi of the Southern Court. Initially a branch fortification of the Ochi clan’s main fortress, Kaifukiyama Castle, it eventually became their main base. During the Sengoku period, the castle became a battlefield due to conflicts involving religious factions and the Ikkō-ikki uprisings. After Oda Nobunaga’s conquest of Yamato, the castle was once abandoned, but it was later reconstructed under Tsutsui Junkei and subsequently by Toyotomi Hidenaga’s retainer Honda Toshihisa. In particular, during Honda’s era, the castle was expanded with multi-layered turrets, large and small keeps, and 17 three-story yagura, forming an unprecedentedly grand mountain fortress. A castle town also developed at the foot of the mountain, creating a combined castle-and-town structure.

In the Edo period, after the Honda clan’s line ended, the Uemura clan took control, establishing Takatori Domain with a stipend of 25,000 koku. The Uemura family governed for 14 generations until the Meiji Restoration. In the late Edo period, the castle was also caught up in the Tenchūgumi Incident, becoming a stage for the upheavals of the Restoration.

Following the Meiji government’s castle abolition order of 1873, Takatori Castle was dismantled, with many of its structures demolished or relocated to temples and schools. For example, the Ninomon Gate was moved to Kojima Temple as its main gate, while the Matsunomon Gate was later reconstructed. Although nearly all wooden structures disappeared, the vast stone walls — preserved by the castle’s remote mountaintop location — have survived in remarkable condition. Today, they remain a spectacular sight. Takatori Castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1953 and selected as one of the “100 Famous Japanese Castles” in 2006.