Sagaki Kuniyoshi Castle

1. A formidable fortress that held back the seemingly impregnable Asakura forces
2. A “stone-walled castle” revealed by archaeological excavation
3. Seasonal colors of the castle ruins and the stunning views of Wakasa visible from the site

Kuniyoshi Castle was a mountain fortress located in Sagaki in the eastern part of Mihama Town. During the Sengoku period it served as a border castle protecting Wakasa Province and Tsuruga Province. It is said that Awaya Ecchu‑no‑Kami Katsuhisa, a senior retainer of the Takeda family who governed Wakasa, rebuilt the old castle in Koji 2 (1556).
The castle’s fame was made by the “Siege of Kuniyoshi,” which began in Eiroku 6 (1563) when the Asakura clan from Echizen attacked and were repelled. From that year until the fall of the Asakura in Tensho 1 (1573), Asakura forces launched attacks almost annually, but the Awaya-led defenders held inside Kuniyoshi Castle and never lost it. An old tale by the local samurai Tanabe Handaifu Yasutsugu, who took part in the defense, spread as the war chronicle Kuniyoshi Siege Record. Incidentally, the castle had been called Sakaki Castle at the time, but the popularity of the Kuniyoshi Siege Record fixed the name Kuniyoshi Castle.
In Genki 1 (1570), the castle welcomed Oda Nobunaga and his 30,000-strong army on the march to attack the Asakura. According to the Kuniyoshi Siege Record, Nobunaga entered Kuniyoshi Castle with Kinoshita Tokichiro Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Akechi Mitsuhide—the subject of this year’s historical drama—and met with Katsuhisa and the local samurai who had endured the siege, praising their efforts. Later, in Tensho 11 (1583), Kimura Hitachi no suke, a vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, became castellan and developed a castle town. This marked the origin of the current Sakaki Settlement, which prospered in the Edo period as a post station on the Tango Highway. The townscape still preserves strong traces of that era.
The castle was abolished in Kan’ei 11 (1635) early in the Edo period when Sakai Tadakatsu replaced the Kyogoku clan as lord of Obama Domain, and the Sakaki Town Magistrate Office was built on the south side of the ruins. On that site the Wakasa Kuniyoshi Castle History Museum opened in Heisei 21 (2009).
Designated a town historic site in Showa 58 (1983), Kuniyoshi Castle’s ruins are a local historical asset. Excavations that began in fiscal 2000 aimed to preserve and utilize the Sengoku‑period mountain fortress that had seemingly survived the fierce Asakura assaults. The investigations, however, overturned the existing image of the castle when they uncovered large groups of foundation stones for buildings, stone walls showing traces of deliberate collapse in which the upper halves had been systematically removed and the lower halves buried, giant foundation and facing stones at the northwest gate of the hilltop main bailey, and building remains on the southern corner mound of the main bailey that may have been a keep. These features appear to reflect major renovations by Kimura Hitachi no suke to assert the new lord’s power, although no documentary records described them. The excavations thus revealed the “truth” for the first time.
In Heisei 29 (2017) the castle was selected as one of the Continued Top 100 Castles of Japan by the Japan Castle Foundation. In spring the castle town of Sagaki and the ruins are brightened by cherry blossoms and blooming shaga irises; in summer by masses of hangesho (plants whose leaves turn pale); in autumn by the maple leaves at Shourenji and Tokusho‑ji Temple; and in winter by a blanket of white, welcoming many visitors through the seasons. A promenade leads to the main bailey, but the winding switchback slope seems endless, giving a real sense of the castle’s former impregnability. Yet once you finally reach the main bailey, the majestic nature of Wakasa and the beautiful scenery greet you and make you forget the effort it took to get there.

Sagaki Kuniyoshi Castle
Sagaki, Mihama Town, Mikata‑gun, Fukui Prefecture
Contact
Wakasa Kuniyoshi Castle History Museum (Tel. 0770-32-0050)