Object description

Tsutsujigasaki Castle was the fortified residence of the final three generations of the Takeda clan, located in what is now the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. It is not a castle in the proper sense of the word, and is not referred to as a "castle" in Japanese, as it was famously the policy of the Takeda clan to "make men your castle, men your walls, men your moats". Nevertheless, it is listed as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles. The site has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1938. The site is open to the public and now contains the Takeda Shrine, a Shinto shrine dedicated to the deified spirits of the Takeda clan.