The Ruins of Kaneda Castle （カネダジョウアト）

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Kaneda Castle (also known as Kanatanoki or Kanetanoki) was a Korean-style fortress that was built in year 667. At the time, there were three kingdoms in the Korean Peninsula: Baekje, Silla, and Kokuryo. In 660, Baekje was destroyed by the allied forces formed between Silla and Tang (China). The Japanese forces (Yamato Japan) dispatched troops to the Korean Peninsula to help Baekje, but they were severely defeated in the battle of Hakusukinoe by the allied forces in year 663. Following the defeat, Yamato Japan decided to build Korean-style mountaintop castles across western Japan to protect the nation from the possible invasion by the allied forces. In 667, Kaneda Castle was built on the mountaintop of “Joyama”, at which the soldiers sent from eastern Japan stationed and guarded the forefront overlooking Aso Bay and the Korean Peninsula. Exposed at the front line of the national defense, Tsushima – the “island on the border” - was then pervaded with extreme tension.

Over a thousand years later, just before the start of the Russo-Japanese War, the site of Kaneda Castle was once again at the front line of national defense, and the Imperial Japanese Army constructed huge cannons to prepare for the battle.

Today, the Joyama area is designated as a special historic site in Japan, carrying the legacies of both the 1,300 year old castle ruins built by ancient warriors, and the 100 year old modern fortress built by the Imperial Japanese Army.