Sakasai Castle

A castle said to have been built around the Kyōtoku era (mid-15th century) as the seat of the Sakasai clan, who held Sakasai in Sashima District, Shimōsa Province (present-day Bandō City, Ibaraki Prefecture). It is a Sengoku-period hirayamajiro (castle on a low hill), protected by the Iinuma marsh to the north and the Hasunuma marsh to the west. In 1536, the castle fell to an invasion by the Hōjō clan, based at Odawara, and its castellan Tsuneshige was killed in battle. Brought under Hōjō control, the castle was rebuilt anew in Tenshō 5 (1577) by Hōjō Ujishige, lord of Tamanawa Castle. As a front-line castle facing Shimotsuke and Hitachi, it confronted the Satake clan, the Tagaya clan, and others. It is also said that a band of 300 ninja, including Fūma Magoemon, son of Fūma Kotarō, was stationed here. Based on excavations begun in the 1980s, the yagura gate, bridge, walls, main hall (shuden), two-storey turret, and others have been reconstructed. The site has been developed as a historic park where the outer moat and earthen ramparts also remain.