Kokokuji Castle (興国寺城 Kōkokuji-jō, also known as 根古屋城 Negoya-jō) is located in Numazu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It was constructed some time between 1469 and 1487 and given to Hōjō Soun (or Ise Shinkuro at that time) for services rendered to the Imagawa clan. The rise of the Late Hōjō in the Kantō region began right here. However, the Hōjō did not rule the castle continuously; when Soun invaded Izu Peninsula in 1491 it was handed over to Imagawa Yoshimoto who later renovated the castle. In the following decades, the castle changed hands several times between the Imagawa, the Hōjō and the...

Mount Omuro (大室山 Ōmuroyama) is a volcano south of Ito City on the eastern coast of the Izu Peninsula. Extinct for 3,700 years, the cone-shaped mountain is completely covered in grass and has a circular trail around its crater mound at an altitude of 580 meters. The trail is about one kilometer in length. The Ōmuroyama Volcano Geosite is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park (富士箱根伊豆国立公園 Fuji-Hakone-Izu Kokuritsu Kōen) that spans Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Kanagawa and parts of Tokyo. The summit of Mount Ōmuro can only be accessed by chairlift (about 5 minutes) and offers spectacular...

Kakegawa Castle (掛川城 Kakegawa-jō) is a hilltop (hirayama-type) castle located in Kakegawa City in western Shizuoka Prefecture. Listed in the Top 100 Castles of Japan, it is considered to be one of the finest examples of reconstructed Japanese castles. Kakegawa Castle in August 2015 History The castle was originally built in 1497 by Asahina Yasuhiro, a retainer of the Imagawa clan who ruled over Suruga Province, the central part of modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture. After Imagawa Yoshimoto (今川 義元, 1519-1560) was killed in the Battle of Okehazama in June 1560, his territories were divided...