Takeno Castle

History

Takenojō is thought to have been a branch fort of Inōejō. It was likely renovated by Takeda forces after their conquest of it. See Inoue Castle for more information.

Visit Notes

There is a trail up to Takenojō, a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) site, from the northwest, and I started claiming here and got about a quarter of the way up. I guess it would’ve been fine to continue, but, since I was on a rented e-bike I decided I may as well cycle instead up the forest road which goes to a pass between the mountains linking Takenojō and Inōejō. The climb doesn’t take as long and the relative elevation is only about 20m to the start of the castle ruins from forest road. But I wanted to mostly come this way because the castle is orientated that way - south, so climbing from the north goes to its rear; it’s always best to start at the bottom of a castle rather than the top, I believe. It’s fine to go either way but going from the south is the lazier way, and it’s easier to appreciate the scale of the castle.

Takenojō is like a giant staircase, and its layout is fairly unique. There are three large trenches in the lower part of the site. These are fairly deep and stretch across the wide ridge, retaining good form. Three well-built trenches one after the other like this leaves its impression. And then there is another triple set in the form of baileys, the lower two terraced, at the top of the castle mount. Some of the baileys use bare rock-face as walls. To the rear of the main bailey, trenches, albeit smaller than those below, are sunk into the bare rock of the ridge.

Gallery

Karabori
Koshikuruwa (sub-bailey)
Horikiri (trench)
Dorui and horikiri
main bailey
castle mount

Castle Profile
English Name	Takeno Castle
Japanese Name	竹の城
Founder	Inōe Clan; Takeda Clan
Year Founded	Sengoku Period; 1550s
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Designations	Local Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Horikiri, Kuruwa, Dorui
Features	trenches
Visitor Information
Access	Nearest Station is Murayama Station on the Nagano Line; Suzaka-Nagano-Higashi IC
Visitor Information	24/7 free; mountain
Time Required	40 minutes
Location	Suzaka, Nagano Prefecture
Coordinates	36° 37' 45.30" N, 138° 17' 45.56" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2022
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Jōkaku Hōrōki
Shirobito
Jōsai
Kojō Seisuiki
Shiro Meguri
Shiro Iku
Yogo

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