Kashima Castle Grounds

Recently, I discovered the location of Kashima Castle. It is a short distance from Kashima Shrine. In fact, festival parade routes still follows traveling from the castle grounds to the shrine. The castle stood on a steep hill overlooking much of Kashima, including the river and the First Torii gate. The castle was built in 1181, by Yoritomo Minamoto, the Soutsuibushi (a kind of military ruler). It stood until 1591, when Kiyohide Kashima and his son (owner of the castle and ruler of Kashima) were murdered by Yoshinobu Satake of Hitachi Ota. Thus bringing an end to the history of Kashima Castle. Where the castle once stood is now a very scenic park. It still holds the beautiful vistas, and on the grounds are dozens of cherry trees. I look forward to returning in the spring time to view the blooming of the cherry blossoms. There are some markers on the grounds to show where some locations once were, like the inner citadel once stood. The Kashima Castle grounds adds more to the depth of this city, I am slowly learning the history of this beautiful land.