Tougeyama Noroshidai

History

Tōgeyama-noroshidai was a fortified signal tower servicing the faction in control for Yabuhara-toride; see my article on Yabuhara Fort for more information.

Visit Notes

A noroshidai (fortified beacon tower) was built upon the summit of Tōgeyama in conjunction with Yabuhara-toride below. The peak is now the site of a broadcasting array used by NHK, Japan's national broadcaster. Not only does NHK have the barefaced, shameless cheek to ask me to give them money, they've also built on one of my precious yamajiro (mountaintop castle) sites. Well, well, what a nuisance! Any ruins on the peak have been crushed by the broadcasting equipment. However, on the hike back down to the Torii Pass I did note, just beneath the ridge, a terraced area in a few bands. There was a flattened lower area which was wide enough to be a bailey, and it terminated in a prow-like up-turn in the earth which I fancied could be the remains of earthworks for the fort. It's possible these are the sole remains of Tōgeyama-noroshidai.

No one has yet, at least on any of the major castle blogging sites, posted online about this site (Ranmaru-sensei mentions it on his account of Yabuhara-toride and shows a picture of the mount from below); I was going in blind. Since no map appears to exist on the internet, I have tried to make my own of the site's nawabari (layout). Even though my map is really amateurish, I'm proud to plant my flag here since it was quite a slog to get to. It's possible to reach the site from just above the Torii Pass. One should take the narrow trail which goes by the Reijin monument in that case. I descended here, but I actually climbed up via some dubious trails cutting between a forest road which runs to the NHK facility. I took a steep ridge, a sort of 'ladder' between the 'snake' of the road, which took me directly below the noroshidai site. It was about an hour's detour from Yabuhara-toride and I jogged back along the old Nakasendō trail to get back to Narai-juku in time for my train back to Matsumoto.

Gallery

Fort bailey remnant

Castle Profile
English Name	Tougeyama Noroshidai
Japanese Name	垰山狼煙台
Founder	Kiso Clan
Year Founded	Sengoku Period
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Terracing and other earthworks maybe
Features
Visitor Information
Access	It's possible to reach the site from just above the Torii Pass. One should take the narrow trail which goes by the Reijin monument in that case.
Visitor Information	24/7 free; mountain
Time Required	60 minutes
Location	Kiso, Nagano Prefecture
Coordinates	35° 56' 53.27" N, 137° 47' 54.10" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2022
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed

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