Yamanaka Castle and Mt. Fuji!

Today I visited Yamanaka Castle, a Japanese national castle built in 1560, and is famous for being one of the few castles in Japan built on a mountain slope. It was used as a fort that protected the main Odawara castle in the 16th century, making use of rolling hills and mountain ditches for its fortification. Unfortunately, because the castle was built at the very end of the Muromachi period just before war broke out, there is no castle left, but we were able to see some pretty epic scenery.

Entrance way and Map. As you can see, it's quite large.


Yes, we climbed all of those stairs.





Yamanaka Castle is famous for these square holes in the ground--dry moats that served as barriers to enemy attacks.






Very, very old graves. I'm not sure who they were for, but with the exception of the one on the top right, I'm guessing they're altars for those who built the castle.




Mountain scenery! Across from Yamanaka Castle is a great picnicking area where, on a clear day like today was, you can get lovely views of Mt. Fuji, seen on the bottom.

That's all! Hope you enjoyed the pictures! =]