Shiroyama Castle (Asuke)

History

Shiroyamajō was one in a network of fortifications protecting Asuke. For more info' see Iimoriyamajō.

Visit Notes

Shiroyamajō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Asuke Township, Toyota Municipality. Ruins consist of kuruwa (baileys), terracing and ishigaki (stonewalls). The hilltop portion of the castle consists of two spacious kuruwa. The lower of the two, the second bailey, has what appears to be the site of a gate, and there is remnant ishigaki here. There are many more segments of ishigaki remaining on the north face of the main bailey. There doesn't seem to be much ishigaki at other sites around Asuke, so the generically named Shiroyamajō, often called Asuke-Shiroyamajō, is a little special in that regard.

Some parts of the castle mount I found too overgrown with fetid bamboo groves to explore further, and so I could not check the ridge ends for trenches. I looked from above in the main bailey, and the ridge seemed very far below; anyway, it seemed folly to go down, and I could see nothing. There is a significant southeastern spur made up of ridgeline terracing along the approach to the castle. Some of the lower terraces are cultivate but the site is now mostly used as a cedar plantation and is overgrown in parts.

I went sort of the wrong way to this site by climbing up along a modern retaining wall which appears to have been installed about two decades ago to protect a new access ramp leading to Route 153 from landslides. This brought me to the castle's truncated southwestern spur. Since the sculpted embankments of the fortification were evident immediately above where the modern patchwork retaining wall ended, I wondered if some lower parts of the castle hadn't been demolished when the new road was constructed. I went back down via the southeastern spur which has a path.

This site is called Asuke-Shiroyamajō to distinguish it from many other castles called 'Shiroyama', but it is not to be confused with Asukejō, which is in fact a modern name for a castle originally called Mayumiyamajō, also in Asuke.

Gallery

Ishigaki remains

Castle Profile
English Name	Shiroyama Castle (Asuke)
Japanese Name	足助城山城
Founder	Asuke Clan
Year Founded	Kamakura Period
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Dorui, Kuruwa, Ishigaki, &c.
Features	trenches, stone walls
Visitor Information
Access	Higashi-Okazaki Station on the Meitetsu-Nagoya Line; bus to Asuke (70 mins); or, Jōsui Station on the Meitetsu-Toyota Line; Toyota City Bus (50 mins).
Visitor Information	24/7 free; mountain
Time Required	30 minutes
Location	Toyota, Aichi Prefecture
Coordinates	35° 8' 29.08" N, 137° 19' 13.04" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2024
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Jōkaku Hōrōki
Umoreta Kojō

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