Kanayama Castle Ruins

At the end of the Muromachi period , in 1537 , the grace Masayoshi Saito , who was ordered by Dosan Saito , built a castle on the summit of a mountain (elevation 273m) in Kanayama-cho , Kani-gun and called it Torigamine Castle. Then , the place name Nakaido was changed to Kanayama Village. Saito family , who used force in the neighberhood , was also defeated by the owner of Kuguri Castle in 1548. At that time , Masayoshi was 33 years old. After that , for 17 years , the clan Jyurozaemon Toki protected the absence castle. 　Time has changed , and in 1565 , Nobunaga Oda sealed Yoshinari Mori as a base for capturing Tono area , and made him the owner of Kanayama Castle , 75000-koku. Since then , they have lived in the castle for 36 years for 3 generations , father and son , Yoshinari , Nagayoshi , and Tadamasa , and colored the history of the turmoil of the Warring States period. Yoshinari fought against Army Asai and Asakura on September 20, 1570 at Omi and died (47 years old). Before this , the eldest son Yoshitaka also made his first attack on Asakura on April 25 , and died in Tsuruga Tezutsuyama Castle (19 years old). On May 9 , 1582 , Nobunaga stayed overnight at Kanayama Castle during the conquest of Takeda clan. Before dawn on June 2 , 1582 , the three brothers of Yoshinari's third son Ranmaru (the owner of Iwamura Castle , 50000-koku , 18 years old) , fourth son Bomaru (17 years old) , and fifth son Rikimaru (16 years old) , who died along with Nobunaga (49 years old) due to the incident at the Honnoji Temple due to Mitsuhide Akechi's revellion , were all born in Kanayama Cassle , and were serving Nobunaga.

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Kanayama Castle Ruins	View from the Remains of the Main Enclosure of Kanayama Castle

Photo Album（Kanayama Castle Ruins）

The second son , Nagayoshi , the second-generation castle owner , was said to be "OniMusashi" because of his excellent courge. He was also the owner of Iwamura Castle (50000-koku) and was the owner of Shinsyu Kaizu Castle. He made great achievements in the conquest of Ikko-ikki on Ise Nagashima and the conquest of Takeda clan. He founded Yoshinari Temple and used his intentions to rebuild the castle and built a castle town , but he died in the battle of Nagakute on April 9 , 1584 (17 years old) . 　The third-generation castle owner , Tadamasa , the sixth son , was born in Kanayama Castle, succeeded the trace of Nagayoshi , and at the age of 15 , he occupied 70000-koku and served Hideyoshi Toyotomi. He worked on the maintenance and expension of Kanayama Castle , participated in Kyusyu and Odawara , and was valued as a general of wisdom. In 1600, by the order of Ieyasu Tokugawa , he was transferred to Shinsyu Kaizu Castle (137500-koku) , and Kanayama Village and Kanayama Castle became the territory of Mitsuyoshi Ishikawa , the owner of Inuyama Castle. The castle tower , turrets , etc. were all demolished , and it was used to extend and repair the castle of Inuyama Castle by going down the Kiso River. In 1603 , Tadamasa was changed to Mimasaka Province (106500-koku) , and it took 13 years to complete Tsuyama Castle , which was the basis of the present Tsuyama City , Okayama Prefecture. 　Through Saito family and Mori family , they have been in the castle for only 40 years , but while they were remarkably rising as a famous general in the turbulent world of the Warring States period , they also made efforts to create a castle town such as the maintenance of the castle and the promotion of commerce (According to "Kanayama Ki Taisei" Kanayama-cho Board of Education)

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