Hikes in the Tokyo Area: The Hachioji Castle Ruins Trail

BASIC INFORMATION

• Name: The Hachioji Castle Ruins Trail
• Location: Hachioji, Japan
• Distance: 3 miles (4.8 km)
• Max Elevation: 1,509 feet (460 m)
• Elevation Gain: 920 feet (280 m)
• Time: 1-2 hours
• Difficulty: Moderate
• More Information: 30 Day Hikes Near Tokyo

Google Earth Map of the Trail

Directions

The Hachioji Castle Ruins is located on a hillside in its namesake city.

Parking

There is a large parking lot for this hike which is free to park at.  The lot is open from 0900-1700 each day:

My son and I hiked this trail on a weekend afternoon and found the lot to be quite busy.  Despite this we had no problems finding a place to park.

Narrative

My nine year old son and I decided to do a hike that a friend of mine from Hachioji recommended that I checkout.  The hike was to the Hachioji Castle Ruins.  After eating lunch we made the drive over to Hachioji to do this as a afternoon hike.  After parking we first walk over to the museum to see if we could learn more about the castle:

Unfortunately the museum displays are all in Japanese so we were not able to learn a deeper history about the castle from them though they were still cool check out:

However, there is an English handout available in the museum that I was able to read that explained the history of the castle.  Hachioji Castle was one of the fortresses constructed by the Hoju clan to defend the Kanto plain region that they controlled more than 400 years ago. The Hoju clan are the same clan that constructed the famous Odawara Castle in southern Kanagawa prefecture:

The castle in Hachioji was no where near as grand as it was made of stone and earthen works on a very steep mountain slope to defend an entry point into the Kanto region from the mountains.  It is believed that the daimyo, Hojo Ujiteru started construction of Hachioji Castle in 1582 and moved his residence there in 1587.  The museum provides a nice model of what the castle complex would have looked like back then:

In 1590 Hachioji Castle and Odawara Castle were both attacked by forces led by the warlord, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  These enemy forces successfully captured both castles and thus took control of the Kanto region from the Hojo clan.  Hideyoshi would go on to conquer most of Japan and declare himself Shogun.  To further explore the history of this castle, my son and I decided to hike up to the castle fortress ruins on the top of the nearby hill.  The hike begins by passing under this large wooden tori gate:

We would then next pass under a stone tori gate:

Most of this trail we found to be heading straight up:

We soon came to a sign that pointed out where the entrance to the fortress known as the Sakumon Gate was located:

There was some social trails we noticed that left the main trail, but by following the signs to Hachioji Jinja Shrine we were able to stay on course:

As we neared the top of the hill the trail became steeper with more staircases for us to ascend:

The trail then came to an area that had a sweeping view of the Hachioji area:

We could even see the high-rise buildings of Tokyo in the far distance:

We also could see the museum at the trailhead down below us:

Here is a panorama of the view from the trail:

Up above us from the viewpoint we could see the tall trees towering over us:

From the viewpoint we ended up hiking up yet another staircase:

At the top of the staircase there was a large clearing where the Hachioji Jinja Shrine is located.  The Hojo clan worshipped mountain deities here to protect the castle:

The clearing also had a “tengu” (天狗) keeping watch over it. Tengus are considered spirit guardians of the mountains in Japan.  They are often depicted with swords and stern faces to represent how they are defenders of the mountains:

From the clearing it was another short ascent to reach the summit of the mountain.  On the summit there is a very small Shinto shrine located there called Honmaruato:

There was also a large monument located there which I was not sure what it meant:

We then walked over to a viewpoint just below the summit:

The view from the viewpoint was partially blocked by the vegetation and trees, but we could make out some views of the city below and Mt. Takao to the south:

The viewpoint also had a marker that showed what the fortifications on the hill would have looked like:

With nothing else to look at my son and I then headed back down the mountain.  It took us less than hour to reach the hilltop and even less when we decided to descend.  Once we were back at the trailhead we followed a sign that pointed us in the direction of the castle ruins located at the base of the fortress:

Near the sign there was also a marker that explained more about the castle’s history:

The trail to the castle ruins was a pleasant walk through the woods:

The trail followed a small creek called the Shiroyama River that flowed along the base of the hill:

The trail led to the Hikihashi Bridge that crossed the creek to the daimyo’s residence at Hachioji Castle called Goshuden-ato.  It is said that the bridge was built in such a way that it would be easy to destroy if the residence was attacked:

At first it seems kind of strange to have the residence at the bottom of the castle, but considering how steep the sides of the hill is, there really was no other choice of where to construct the residence.  We walked through the residence which featured plenty of large rock walls to defend it.  We actually liked this part of the hike because there was actual structures to see unlike the trail we followed to the top of the hill that had no fortifications to see:

We could also so the stone supports on the ground that show where the actual wooden residence was located:

Here is a view from the rock walls looking back at the residence with the earthen fortifications located on the hill behind it:

After walking around the residence area we then followed the trail a short distance up the stream:

This is where we got a view of the Goshudenno Falls.  Legend has it that after the fall of the Hachioji Castle, its lord Hojo Ujiteru committed seppuku which is a form of Japanese ritual suicide.  His family and servants then walked over to Goshudenno Falls and killed themselves with knives and swords they had.  It is said that the creek ran red with blood for three days and three nights:

This tragedy has caused the Hachioji Castle Ruins to have a reputation of being a haunted area in Japan.  Near the waterfall there is a small monument where people can leave offerings for the dead that committed suicide at the waterfall:

After the waterfall, the trail then reversed direction and passed under the Hikihashi Bridge that we used to access the residence earlier:

From there it was a simple walk back to the trailhead.  In total visiting the museum, hiking up the hill, and touring the castle ruins took my son and I about two hours to complete.  It really made for a nice afternoon hike for us.

Conclusion

A visit to the Hachioji Castle Ruins may be a bit underwhelming for many people expecting to see an actual castle.  There is no castle here and only some minor ruins from where the daimyo’s residence was located.  This is the only indication that anything of significance was ever at this location.  With that said exploring the history of the castle and enjoying the forest and views from the hillside makes this trail worth checking out for anyone looking for a simple family friendly hike.