Karasawayama Shrine

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

Karasawayamacastle ruinsstone wallscatsSano

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Karasawayama was a Fujiwara mountain castle held by the Sano family for centuries, and it is one of the few castles in the Kanto region to have been built with substantial stone walls — a Kansai technique that is rare this far east and still visible below the main bailey. The shrine that now occupies the summit was built in 1883 and enshrines Fujiwara no Hidesato, the tenth-century warrior of the Tawara Toda legends.

The other thing Karasawayama is known for locally, and the reason a good proportion of Japanese visitors come, is the cats. A colony lives on the mountain, each animal named, fed and looked after by volunteers and by the resthouse at the summit car park, which sells food and keeps donation boxes. The combination of a serious medieval stone-walled fortress, a quiet shrine, a view over the Kanto plain, and a large number of extremely relaxed cats is not one you will find anywhere else.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Shrine and castle site open during daylight hours | Summit car park usable until 6:00 PM

Closed: Open year-round

Entrance Fee

Free | Free parking

Best Season

April for cherry blossom | Late November for colour | Clear winter days for the plain view

Visit Duration

60–90 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

Fuji-cho, Sano. Car recommended; from Sano-Tanuma IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway follow signs for Karasawayama. Free parking near the summit at around 200 m elevation, usable until 6:00 PM, with a resthouse serving food. There is also parking at the foot of the mountain. Free to visit.

Insider Guide

Premium

**Walk to the main bailey for the stone walls.** From the car park the path passes below the third bailey and then up to the honmaru, where the stone walling is on the left. Stone construction on a Kanto mountain castle is unusual and it is the historically interesting part of the site. **The car park gate closes at six.** Vehicles need to be out by 6:00 PM. That effectively makes this a daytime visit. **Buy the cat food at the resthouse rather than bringing your own.** The colony is managed by volunteers and the resthouse sells appropriate food and bowls, with donations going to their care. Bringing outside food is not helpful. **The approach road is narrow.** The drive up is a single-track mountain road in places with passing points. It is short but requires attention, particularly at weekends. **Best in clear weather.** The point of a mountain castle is the sightline, and the view over the Kanto plain from the honmaru is excellent on a clear winter day and non-existent in summer haze.

View on Google Maps