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Yamanaka Castle: Hojo Hatched Moats and Half-Day Fall
Built by the Hojo, Yamanaka Castle is famous for its hatched moats (shoji-bori) — bottoms divided into a grid that trapped attackers. In the 1590 Odawara campaign, 4,000 defenders held against Hideyoshi's 70,000 for only half a day. Beautifully restored ruins overlook Mt. Fuji.
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Hijiri
| Shrines & Temples
Yamanaka Castle was built by the Hojo in the late Sengoku period to defend the western approach via Hakone Pass. Its most distinctive feature is the shoji-bori (hatched moat) — a moat with a grid of earth ridges at the bottom that trapped invaders and exposed them to fire from above. In the opening battle of the 1590 Odawara campaign, 4,000 defenders fell to Hideyoshi’s 70,000 men in only half a day. Today, the moats are restored in turf, creating a striking geometric landscape with Mt. Fuji as backdrop.
Last updated: May 2, 2026
Shoji-bori at Yamanaka Castle — Hojo's unique grid-bottomed moat
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Yamanaka Castle ruins with Mt. Fuji
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Aerial view of Yamanaka Castle — geometric pattern of restored hatched moats
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Ninomaru of Yamanaka Castle — battlefield where 4,000 defenders fell
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
Path through Yamanaka Castle ruins — meticulously preserved national historic site
Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
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Hijiri（ひじり）
Shrines & Temples
Toku editorial team — shrines and temples. Former designer who reads temple architecture and gardens through an aesthetic lens, quietly tracing the lineages of sects and doctrines.
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1. Yamanaka Castle
A Later Hojo mountain castle of nationally designated earthwork ruins — fell in half a day in 1590
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2. Odawara Castle
Stronghold of five generations of Hojo — Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1590 siege here ended the Sengoku era and unified Japan
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3. Ishigakiyama Ichiya-jo
A national historic site — the first full stone-wall castle in Kanto, built by Hideyoshi in 80 days to overlook besieged Odawara
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4. Soun-ji
Family temple of five Hojo generations, founded in 1521 by Ujitsuna for his father Soun — the nationally designated garden and five lords' graves stand in Hakone-Yumoto
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5. Hojo Ujimasa & Ujiteru Graves
The graves of Hojo Ujimasa and Ujiteru — the last Hojo lords who took their own lives after Hideyoshi's 1590 siege
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