A path less travelled

It seems like only yesterday, but it was in fact in 2005 that I took a little hiking trip to the seriously old castle ruins of Kii-jō (基肄城). The castle is located about an hour by train south of Fukuoka city. It was built in the mid 600′s. Unsurprisingly, very little remains today. It is probably more famous nowadays for hiking, and in decades past, for grass skiing of all things. After parking the car, I walked a short distance to a very small temple, which is where our adventure begins.

The sign below says it all; from the Water gate (水門) (lower-left, near the map’s legend) we follow the red arrows ’till we hit the Northeast gate ruins (東北門跡), hang a left, pass through open areas with 100′s of building foundation stones until eventually we have the choice of going right, to the North gate (北帝門跡 ) or left, to the peak. Naturally, I checked out both. To go right is a round trip anyway.

The hiking route

What remains of the “water gate” is a 14-metre-high stone wall with a rather tiny tunnel running through it. This was a common feature in the these old Korean-style fortresses but I’m unsure of their significance. If anyone does know, I’d be great to hear from you.

The Water Gate

Could there be a crapier photo than the one below? Possibly not. Sections of the mountaintop are covered with these stones. They provided sure footing for the wooden pillars of buildings.

Storehouse foundation stones

It’s about at this time that I realised it was getting late. I wasn’t sure how much further to the peak, but even then I’d have to retrace my steps to get back to the car. Was I going to make back in time? Was I going to end-up some poor pleb lost on a mountain top cold & alone?

I picked up the pace & arrived at the Northeast gate ruins puffing. What a disappointment; there were just two stones in the ground. Actually, the place is ancient, I should give it a break.

What's left.

So, right leads to the North gate and left leads to the peak. I made my way to the right. It steeply drops away on the left side of the path. This drop off actually forms a ring which greatly limits access to the top of the mountain. This inaccessibility is what made the location ideal all those 100′s of years ago.

The photo below was taken from the North gate, the path leads to the peak. Hard to see, but the drop off is now on the right.

Northern corridor

Onward to the peak. Whoa! I could hear voices. But, I hadn’t seen another human for the last two hours, I thought I was alone. With each step closer to the peak, groups of people were appearing. Then there was like 30+ people there and it was just doing my head in.

Anyway, at the peak is a castle monument & a small observation platform. Oh, and one other thing, A CARPARK! Had I done a bit more research, life could have been so much easier. On the other hand though, I was able to experience so much more than my fellow day-trippers.

The castle marker

The last thing to be done was the sprint back down the mountain before the sun went down.