Takeda Floating Castle

Takeda Floating Castle, sometimes called the Machu Pichu of Japan,  had been something I wanted to see since before I arrived in Japan. So why has it taken me 10 months to see it? I've been waiting patiently. According to the internet, the best time to see Takeda Castle is in Autumn in the early morning just after dawn. During this time, you have the best chance of seeing the "Sea of Clouds" that surrounds Takeda Castle and makes it seem as if its ruins are floating in the air.

And so I've waited.

It's been on my calendar for 10 months. And the day had finally arrived.

I tried to lower the expectations of my fellow travellers the night before. Even though we've waited for the perfect time of the year, there was still only a 1 in 3 chance that there would be a sea of clouds surrounding the castle. The weather conditions have to be perfect.

They assured me they were fine with trying our best, knowing we might be disappointed.

So the next day we woke up bright and early. Scratch that. We woke up early. It was not bright at all. In fact, it was pitch black when we left, at 4am. We ate pre-packed Japanese sandwiches in the car on the 1.5 hour drive, trying to wake ourselves up.

Our intention was to drive up to the highest point our car would take us, and then hike to the actual castle ruins. When we got to the mountain however, we were told that we could not hike to the ruins, as the paths were closed as a result of landslides. We were disappointed, but we did not give up. We instead drove to a neighboring mountain, and climbed up the summit next to the mountain on which Takeda Castle was perched.

We drove as far as we could, and then hiked for around 45 minutes to the summit of the mountain. From here, we were blessed with a breathtaking view of the Takeda Castle ruins, completely surrounded by the sea of clouds!


We sat at the top of the mountain and watched the rolling clouds in the morning light. They rose, and eventually completely covered the castle ruins! All things considered, if we had been able to go to the castle site, we would not have been able to view the castle floating on the clouds in the way that we could now. So it was actually a very lucky turn of events, that landslide!


After we had taken in the views for a good while, we decided to continue hiking on the other side of the mountain. We found our first beautiful autumn leaves, a bright blue lake, and we found a peaceful, thick expanse of forest around us. We pointed out flora and fauna to eachother, especially the large golden orb spiders that haunted the sides of the paths, before eventually heading back down to our car.

If you want to see Takeda Castle ruins, I strongly suggest renting a car the night before, and aiming to get there between 5:30-6:00am in October or November. I'd reccommend first going to the neighboring mountain carpark (Ritsuunkyo) and hiking to the top of that mountain first to see the sea of clouds surrounding the castle in the early morning. Then, after that, if the paths are safe, you can take a leisurely hike to the actual ruins themselves. The car park near the Takeda Castle ruins are manned so if there's something wrong with the paths, someone will be there to inform you.