Kamiakasaka Castle (Kamiakasaka Fortification)

In 1331, Kusunoki Masashige, a follower of Emperor Go-Daigo, built a mountain castle near Kongō Mountain in Kawachi Province. Though it fell once to attacks by the Kamakura Shogunate during the Genhō Rebellion, Masashige used fortified bases at Akasaka and Chihaya to confound the shogunate's vast armies, becoming the symbol of the anti-shogunate movement. The castle possessed a distinctive H-shaped form connecting two peaks, with dry moats and multiple gates that strictly guarded its narrow approach routes. After the Kenmu Restoration of 1333, it functioned as a crucial stronghold for the Southern Court during the Northern and Southern Courts period. Northern Court forces under Ashikaga Takauji repeatedly attempted siege until finally capturing it in 1360. Particularly during the Northern Court's siege, once enemy forces severed the garrison's water supply, the castle fell approximately two weeks later.