Asago sits in inland Hyogo, north of Himeji and west of Kyoto, with its sights scattered through valleys rather than packed into one centre. It is not an easy casual wander, but it rewards anyone interested in castles, mining history and the quieter side of rural Kansai.
The headline is Takeda Castle Ruins, a stone-walled mountaintop site often photographed above a sea of clouds. Down in Ikuno, the silver mine tells a different story: centuries of extraction, later modernised under the Meiji state, with enough oddball presentation to keep it from feeling dry.
Asago works best with a car or careful use of trains and seasonal buses. Do not try to see everything on foot. Pick Takeda, Ikuno or the old ore-processing route, and give the valleys time to make sense.