It held out against Takeda Shingen in 1569; ruins among cherry trees, part of the land is private.
From the ‘滝山城址下’ bus stop a 15-minute path leads to the park entrance: moats, earthworks and a reconstructed bridge between the Honmaru and the Nakanomaru remain, but no stone walls. In spring the cherry trees (once five thousand trees, now fewer than a thousand according to one review) blossom over the ruins, and at weekends the path gets crowded, even on a weekday during the blossom.
A hill castle built in 1521 by the Ōishi clan, later passed to the Hōjō, who in 1569 held out there against the siege of Takeda Shingen before abandoning it in favour of the better-defended Hachiōji Castle. Part of the land around the ruins remains private and is not open to the public. Since 6 April 2017 it has been on the continuation list of the hundred castles of Japan (続日本100名城), at number 123.
ℹ️ Free entry, always accessible. The visitor car park is open 8:00–18:00 (16:00 from November to the end of February). From the ‘滝山城址下’ bus stop it is 15 minutes on foot; a full tour of the part of the site open to the public takes up to an hour and a half. ⚠️ No stone walls: if you are looking for a ‘picture-postcard’ castle you will be disappointed, if you are looking for a historic trail you will enjoy it; it is more of a hike than a monument, with a low accessibility score in the reviews (バリアフリー 2.14/5).
🚉 滝山城址下 · 9 min walk
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