Fushimi-Momoyama-jô, Fushimi Castle, or Momoyama Castle was the former capital of Japan under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The castle does not have a storied history and spent the vast majority of its history as a pile of rubble and raw materials for other castles and temples. The name of the castle can be rather confusing, but fundamentally the castle is in the neighborhood of Fushimi in Kyoto Prefecture. However, following an earthquake that destroyed the castle only two years after its completion, the castle was rebuilt again with groves of peach trees which gave the area the name Momoyama meaning “peach mountain.”

The primary motive of the castle was never to be as a defensible structure, although it was designed with the basics all the same, the castle was really only meant to be the retirement palace for Toyotomi Hideyoshi once he named his successor. Because the castle is closely associated with Hideyoshi, and it was his seat of power in Kyoto, the time period of growing stability following the Sengoku Jidai (The Warring States Period) is called the Azuchi-Momoyama Period so named for the castles of Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi respectively. Following the death of Hideyoshi at Momoyama-jô, the castle was maintained by Torii Mototada, a loyal retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu. During the power play that resulted with Tokugawa Ieyasu becoming shogun, Torii Mototada defended the castle in an eleven day siege which ended with Torii and his remaining forces committing seppuku. The siege was extremely usefull because it allowed Ieyasu to build up an army and take a decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, a battle which effectively won Ieyasu control of Japan. The ritual suicides of Torii Mototada and his men stained the floorboards so much that it was noted the stain could not be removed later. Sections of the floorboards are still visible at several temples in the Kyoto area where they are prominently displayed as the ceiling boards.

In the Edo period, the castle was completely dismantled, and its materials used to build several temples and to supply other castles in the area. In the 20th century the castle was rebuilt as a tourist throw-back entertainment park on the west side of the hill. The castle was closed again in 2003 with only tentative plans to reopen it. The tombs of Emperor Meiji and his wife now stand where the original castle foundations were built.

For visitors: 2.

This is a very weird castle and outside of the interest in just seeing a full standing yet derelict castle, there’s not really any great motivation to visit. I think if it was fixed and reopened my opinion would likely change since my research spoke very highly about the castle’s gold leaf tea room. With that said, the castle that they built and maintained sounded like it was someplace that you would need to spend a great deal of money to enjoy rather than reveling in the castle experience remenicent of Osaka or Nijô. I will say that it’s a generally easy castle to get to with a train station nearby and only a short (albeit steep) walk to the castle itself. They do maintain the grounds at least, but the buildings are lacking. You can however enjoy watching people play all sorts of games on the various fields around the tower. If that doesn’t sound particularly appealing, then just keep riding the train to Uji for some tea and Byôdô-in or go even further and to go Nara. The choice is up to you.

My biggest regret is that I never knew that Emperor Meiji’s tomb was just on the other side of the hill, so now I really have to get back over there.

Sorry, a computer error deleted my only photos of the castle, so I leave the search to you.