Tanba Kameyama Castle is classified as a hilltop castle, and is located in Kyōto. During the pre-modern age, it found itself within the borders of Tanba Province. It is associated with the Akechi clan. Dates in use: 1578 - 1873.

It was Oda Nobunaga, the first of Japan's three great unifiers, that directed Akechi Mitsuhide to subdue the clans north-west of Kyōto in the the 1570's. And, subdue he did. Thereupon he built a series of fortresses to better oversee his domain. Just four years later he would lose possession of his lands and his head.

The whens and whats of this castle can be found in the time line below. One item of particular note not there is that it was this castle that had the very first Sōtōgata-style main tower. The Sōtōgata is best imagined as each layer formed by a box (containing rooms) & a pyramid for its roof.

Timeline

1578	The castle was built by, Akechi Mitsuhide, a guy voted by classmates Most likely to betray his lord and lose his head 13 days later to some part-time samurai. Spooky, innit?
1582	The Battle of Yamazaki (Shōryūji Castle). Having attacked & killed his lord, Mitsuhide was in-turn attacked & defeated by the armies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1591	Overseen by incoming lord Ogasawara Hideaki, the central tower was reconstructed, the three-layered tower being replaced by a five-layered one.
1595	The Maeda clan were transferred here.
1609	The Okabe clan were transferred here. Some mystery surrounds the dates & status of the main tower over the following years, though it is said that one was transferred from Imabari castle and rebuilt here.
1621	The Ōgyū branch of the Matsudaira clan were transferred here.
1634	The Suganuma clan were transferred here.
1648	The Fujii branch of the Matsudaira clan were transferred here.
1686	The Kuze clan were transferred here.
1697	The Inoue clan were transferred here.
1702	The Aoyama clan were transferred here.
1748	The Katahara branch of the Matsudaira clan were transferred here.
1870	The name of the domain was changed from Kameyama to Kameoka to avoid confusion with the similarly named domain in Ise Province.
1873	The castle was decommissioned.
1877	All buildings were either torn down or sold off.
1920	The lands were sold to a religious order. Alterations were made to the castle ruins when establishing roads & buildings within the castle grounds.
1935	Efforts were made by the cult to restore sections of the castle.