Beneath Kitsuki Castle is a town of slopes. Everything, from the castle mountain where the castle keep, rebuilt in 1970, stands, to the north and south plateaus lined with samurai residences, sits atop slopes. In Houkoku Travelogue, written by Ekiken Kaibara, a Confucianist of the Fukuoka Clan who traveled to Bungo between 1688 and 1704, it says, “The town of Kitsuki has mountains and valleys and is full of slopes.” In the valley is the merchant town of Tanimachi-Suji.
　Going down from the castle and up toward the north plateau is Kanjouba Slope. Heading to the north plateau from the north are Bansho Slope and Shajou Slope, and from Tanimachi-Suji in the south, Suya Slope, Konyachou Slope, and Tomizaka Slope. Meanwhile, from Tanimachi to the south plateau are Shihoya Slope, Ameya Slope, and Tenjin Slope. These slopes organically connect the plateaus of the north and south sandwiching Tanimachi.
　Incidentally, as Ekiken wrote, Kitsuki was once spelled differently. Long ago, the Kitsuki clan controlled the strategic sea-land transportation routes connecting the Kunisaki Peninsula to the inland. During the era of the Matsudaira clan after the advent of the feudal system in the Middle Ages, it was mistakenly written using the current characters in a sealed letter from the Shogunate. Unable to go against the Shogunate and tell them they’d made a mistake, the name of the region was changed. This was about 20 years after Ekiken visited.
　This castle, a fortress, was once surrounded by the sea on three sides. There are the ruins of a boathouse on the bank of the Yasaka River to the south, and the ruins of a lord’s palace in the foothills in the northwest. Rows of earthen wall homes of people such as the Ohara clan, a chief vassal, line the samurai residence street on the north plateau, while the gate of the clan school and study hall remain at the elementary school.
　Well-maintained roads in grid pass through the south plateau, where old street names such as Karou-chou, Matsu, Take, and Ume Street remain, and where a new castle town museum has been built. Temples line Teramachi on the west, which were once used in the defense of the castle.
　Sandwiched in the valley are Tanimachi, Nakamachi, Shinmachi, and Yumichou. In recent years, the roads have been widened, and newly renovated shops have been restored to better suit the castle town welcome visitors. Kitsuki Castle Town is a heartwarming town that will make you feel as though you’ve travelled backwards through time.