Akechi Castle ruins from Fushimi-juku

Not far from Fushimi-juku is Akechi Castle, which is associated with Mitsuhide Akechi, a general of the Warring States period.

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Course Highlights

From Fushimi-juku, take the straight road heading south past Meitetsu Akechi Station. For a while there is a lot of traffic and quite a few restaurants, but after passing the last supermarket, the road narrows and traffic almost disappears.

Visible in the field are the remains of Mitsuhide Akechi’s birthing well. It is said that there was a well here, but there is nothing here now.

Further along the road toward Akechi Castle is the village of Seta. This area seems to have been the castle area when Akechi Castle was located here. There are several shrines and temples, each of which has an explanatory signboard erected by the local people.

One of the best places to stop by is Tenryuji Temple. Tenryuji Temple is famous for its large tablets of Mitsuhide Akechi and the cemetery of generations of the Akechi family. However, at the time of our visit, the temple was not open to the public due to the Corona disaster. It is a temple that does not have any commercial interests. The gravestones of the generations of the Akechi family are surprisingly small for a family that built a castle.

Now it is time to ascend to Akechi Castle. Akechi Castle was built in 1342 by Toki Yorikane, a member of the Toki clan, who changed his family name to Akechi and founded the Akechi family. The castle was ruled by the Akechi family for more than 200 years until 1556, when it was attacked by Saito Yoshinaga, son of Saito Dosan. After the fall of the castle, Mitsuhide Akechi never returned to the area, and Akechi Castle seems to have been abandoned as it was.

Akechi Castle has no large-scale defensive facilities. And as a mountain castle, it has surprisingly little to offer. It is a good place to contemplate history, though.