The Odawara Hojo clan, feudal lords of the Sengoku era, expanded their influence throughout the Kanto region and built numerous castles to consolidate their rule. Many of their castles were also built in the Hakone Geopark area, including Odawara Castle (Photo 1), which is the clan’s base.
The castles are divided into those located in the Ashigara Mountain region (Ashigara Castle, Amidao Fort (Photo 2), Konarao Fort, etc.) and those in the Hakone volcanic region.
The Hakone volcanic area, which is a caldera volcano, has several castles built on the outer rim (Tonomine Castle and Goshoyama Fort, etc.) and others on the early central cone (Takanosu Castle and Yusaka Castle), but none are located on the late central cone. These were built as a network to communicate with each other and were strengthened by the threat from Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the west increased.
The open area of land at the Ashigara Castle ruins at Ashigara Pass provides a good view of Mt. Fuji. Minamiashigara City and Oyama Town in Shizuoka Prefecture claim ownership of this area with a tug-of-war during the Ashigara Pass Flute Festival, which is held every year on the second Sunday of September (Photo 3).
Photo 3: Open area at Ashigara Castle where ownership is decided by tug-of-war