Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle

Yoshida-Koriyama Castle was initially a small 14th century castle, later expanded to a large castle in the 16th century, located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

History

This castle was constructed by Mōri Motonari, a famous daimyo, in the 16th century. The Mori Clan originally came to the Yoshida area from Sagami Province (now Kanagawa Prefecture) in 1336. Having survived the war during the Nanboku-chō period (14th century), they continued to expand their territories.

For much of the early period, the castle was small, and the Mori clan found themselves vulnerable, wedged between the Ouchi Clan (of Suo Province) and the Amago clan (Izumo Province). However, in the 16th century, Mōri Motonari defeated initially the Amako Clan, with the help of the Ouchi Clan, and then defeated the Ouchi Clan after they were weakened by internal conflict. The Clan then conquered the Chugoku district. The castle was repaired, rebuilt and expanded in size to cover most of the moountain. The clan became more influential, and extended its holdings. It became quite advanced for a mountaintop castle, with complex inner and outer stone walls, a quadrangle and a stone-walled fort. However, in 1600 the Mori Clan joined the western forces and participated in the Battle of Sekigahara. When the western allies lost the battle, the Mori clan was forced into the provinces of Suo and Nagato. In the beginning of the 17th century, Terumoto Mohri constructed Hiroshima Castle, and the samurai and attendants were relocated there and Yoshida-Koriyama Castle was abandoned. Like many castles in Japan, it was largely demolished in the early Edo period under the one castle/one domain policy of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Current site

There are some substantial structures left at the current site, mainly some low stone walls. However, considering it was such a large castle that covered much of the mountain, there are about 130 relics left of the castle on the site.