Kokokuji Castle Ruins

This castle ruins site is about a 40 minute walk from Hara Station. 

This is the castle history from the J-Castle website:

Kokokuji Castle is well known as the castle from which Hojo Soun rose to power. Soun became the lord of Kokouji Castle in 1487 for helping to quell the succession dispute among the Imagawa after the death of Imagawa Yoshitada. Yoshitada was married to Soun's sister. In 1491, Soun invaded Izu and Imagawa Yoshimoto was put in charge of Kokokuji Castle. After the hostilities settled down, Imagawa renovated the castle. As the Imagawa lost power, Kokokuji Castle became one of the points of struggle between the Takeda and Hojo. The Takeda took control in 1571 and kept the castle until their downfall when it came under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After Ieyasu moved to Kanto, various lords served from Kokokuji Castle until it was abandoned in 1607.

Map of Castle Area

There are several open fields as you walk up from the road.

A small shrine is located on the grounds.

From the shrine, the trail goes up, and up, then another goes steeply down.

This is the roof of the shrine below.

This is interesting, and not a long walk from the train station, so worth a visit.