Kinoyama Castle ruins - Tatsuno

It seems that elementary school students climb on an excursion! Good!

I had planned for 2 years ? Tatsuno Alps traverse Finally completed ?‍♂️

It is a round trip from the military road, and the locals have recently changed the trarope and wooden bridge, but if you follow the mountain trail in the rough valley with many floating stones, the atmosphere changes at the tip of the lookout stone and you will enter the castle ruins.

Kinoyama Castle is a mountain castle in Harima Province built by Norisuke Akamatsu in the 7th year of Shohei / the first year of Bunna (1352). It was on the summit of Kameyama (elevation 458m) in Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture. Originally, there was an ancient mountain castle built by the Yamato court, which was defeated in the Battle of Baekgang in 663, in preparation for the invasion of Tang and Silla. In the first place, Mr. Akamatsu's castle was a white flag castle built by Norimura's father Akamatsu Enshin, but because it was too close to the west of Harima, Norisuke was a new castle for more than 10 years from Shohei 7 / Bunwa 1st year. Over the years, he built one of the best mountain castles in Hyogo prefecture. At the foot of the mountain, there was "Koshibe Guardian House", a guardian station for two generations, Norisuke and Yoshinori.

Anyway, the foothold is bad! I climbed from the main road (Umatate mountain trail) and descended from the military food road (Shimonoda mountain trail). The round trip is about 3 hours. The main road that goes straight up to the direction of Kame no Ike is like climbing a rocky place. The military road that goes straight up to Kinoyama Castle is a road that runs along the river. Both are roads that go straight up the steep eastern slope of Kameyama. The main road goes up to the rocky slope. Only the installed rope is relied on. It was like bushing in some places, fallen trees passing through here and there, and it was left to the rough because there were few people passing by. The military road was like crossing a rocky swamp with a wooden bridge, or going down a steep slope while holding on to a rope. (The information board is concentrated on the military road, maybe this is the main one?) In both cases, the road from the foot of the mountain to the middle of the road was covered with rocks like a dry riverbed. From the rocky area of ​​the main road, you can overlook the streets of Shingu Town. The view from the lookout rock is also beautiful. but… There is no view from the summit. The remains of the castle ruins remain firmly, but the main enclosure itself is a wooded area, and there is nothing to indicate that this is the main enclosure. The red tape is a mark that represents the mountain trail, but you can get lost here and there. I want you to install more signposts because you can use simple ones instead of tapes. The mountain trail is just a name. It's not worth the effort for the desperate climb. I don't know why it is the site of Mr. Akamatsu such as Shirahata Castle and Kanjoyama Castle, and it is not designated as a nationally designated historic site like other Kamigoishi style mountain castles, but it will be designated and will be maintained someday. Please.

I entered the mountain from Matate Satoyama Park and climbed the Kameyama route. Please note that it will be very difficult to climb after the middle. I climbed on a relatively hot day, so I was sweating enough to squeeze the towel. You can reach the main enclosure in about 80 minutes. However, after passing Kameyama and heading for Shiroyama for a while, the mountain trail disappeared on the way and I finally reached the end with the feeling of climbing through a wooded area as usual, relying on the map. You can also see Horikiri and stone bases along the way. There was no view.

From the mountain shrine in Shingu town, when you pass the old tombs and go along the mountain trail, you will arrive at Kameishi. From there, you will reach the junction of Turtle Pond and Turtle Mountain (Shiroyama) as you pass the Kinki Nature Trail. It is a short distance from Kameyama. As it is an ancient mountain castle, you can not see the tower like Himeji Castle. The tall and thick trees are in the county, but you can see that the terrain is flat. There is also a stone gate of the ancient mountain castle called "Stokes of the gate" nearby. There are multiple routes to the ruins of Shiroyama Castle, and it is called Odado Course from Yama Shrine. By the way, the information board of the Otado course is located on the natural sidewalk between Kameyama (Shiroyama), which climbs the mountain trail, and the turtle pond, so it is recommended to take a walk after obtaining information in advance if you are uneasy .

The way to the ridge is a steep slope in the latter half. Only rocks and animal trails continue rather than roads. On the ridge are turtle ponds, turtle stones, frog stones (can be seen from the attached photo) and spectacular objects. When climbing the mountain, the turtle pond seemed to dry up and more than half of the bottom sand was visible, so I was able to shoot while walking there. Unlike a pond on a flat ground, there were no birds or insects singing, but it was eerie because it had colored leaves. It is difficult from here because the distance from the ridge to the castle is equal to the climbing distance. The remains of the Warring States period (500 years ago) are rather small (or rather difficult to distinguish because they are full of cedar trees. There are also curved rings around the east, west, north and south, but since there is no guide version, it is difficult to know which is Ninomaru or Sannomaru. Horikiri There is a way to guide you through the middle of the west belt of the west. I also want to see the guide of the ring, but the stone wall of the era of the prince of the Chuo University (1300 years ago) remains beautiful. I wonder if the stone walls were all from the castle. It's Baekje's craftsmanship. There are also the foundation stones of the gates and temples of the era. There was a memorial tower on the site where Manaka Akamatsu was supposed to have cut himself after Kayoshi's rebellion. It's also full of cedar trees, so it's a bit more difficult. It is too dark during the day. The turtle pond is said to be the site of a highland settlement in the Yayoi period, but the truth is unknown. It is a reservoir, but it is very beautiful.