Odaka Castle
castle in Yonago, Tottori, Japan

Odaka Castle (尾高城, Odaka-jō)) was a hirayama-style Japanese castle located in the Odaka neighbourhood of the city of Yonago, Tottori Prefecture in western Japan. It was also known as Izumiyama Castle (泉山城, Izumiyama-jō)). Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2019.
Overview
Odaka Castle is located on a fluvial terrace 40 meters above sea level, it overlooks Mount Daisen and the Minokaya Plain. During the Sengoku period, it was a strategic point in western Hōki Province and was the site of conflicts between the Amago and Mōri clans. The early history of the castle is uncertain. Archaeological excavations conducted in 1974 during the construction of the Yonago Workers' General Welfare Center "Yonago Heights," found imported and domestic ceramics, ancient coins, hairpins, and knives dating from the 13th to 16th centuries, suggesting that it began as the stronghold of a local warlord in the Kamakura period. In the Nanboku-chō period it was ruled by the Yukimasa clan, who were vassals of the Amago. Yukimasa Masamori was expelled by the Amago in 1524, but returned with the Mōri armies in 1562 and regained the castle. He died the following year, and Sugihara Morishige, a retainer of the Mōri became castellan.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Odaka Castle” is castle in Yonago, Tottori, Japan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Odaka, Castle and castle, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “castle in Yonago, Tottori, Japan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11465536. Authority coordinates are 35.421, 133.412. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2019, 1974, 1524 and 1562.
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This entry incorporates text from “Odaka Castle” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.