Japan has many castles and castle ruins, but only 12 retain their original central keeps (tenshukaku) from the Edo period (1603–1868) or earlier. I'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. If I could only choose one, Have you been to any of the 12 original castle keeps yet?
Everything is wooden, the ceiling is often very low and the stairs are old and it might be difficult to climb up those stairs to the top floor. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. It’s the castle I’ve visited the most, probably well over 100 times, simply because I used to live nearby and I really considered myself lucky to have this beauty around the corner. You’ll notice how modern the inside is, most of those castles even have elevators.In original castle keeps you can smell how old it is. Note that those original castle keeps aren’t barrier-free.Among Japan’s 4 major islands, you can only find them on Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. The route is conveniently marked with red arrows. As a National Treasure of Japan, Matsumoto Castle is one of the finest of Japan’s 12 original castles. It can be easily seen from town streets. These cookies do not store any personal information.Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Sitting next to Shinji Lake it’s one of As it’s one of the bigger castles, you’ll find a lot of interesting exhibitions inside, so take your time exploring.Marugame’s wooden keep is on a hilltop.
I’ve visited several castles in Japan but one that stands out in terms of beauty, historical interest, and visitor experience is Matsumoto Castle.
that survived with an intact main tower (tenshu).
We encountered brief snow flurries while we were up there at the end of March. Its nickname translates to “As most castles it’s now a popular cherry blossom viewing spot in spring.Another original Japanese castle keep is Inuyama Castle (犬山城) which is located on a small hill in The castle would have been dismantled like many others during the Meiji era, but a It’s probably one of the most famous castles.
After the fall of the shogunate, local preservation efforts managed to save the castle from demolition in the 1870s, and it has now been designated a National Treasure. A cab costs Y1,250 and takes you to a parking lot, 700 meters from the castle. The Crow Castle or karasu-jo, as the Japanese call it, was built in 1597 and was known as the Golden Crow Castle due to its gilded roof tiles. Many of the other buildings were It’s especially beautiful in spring as the castle park has a lot of This castle is also on a hill. Some areas of the path are steep but manageable, with lots of steps.
In 2018 it received the title of National Historic Site. It’s a typical Maruoka Castle (丸岡城) is located on the top of a small hill in Fukui Prefecture.It’s a bit farther away from the popular tourist routes. Ukiyo-e, kuchi-e, shin-hanga, shunga, shikishi, kakejiku. ArtJapanese.com - original Japanese woodblock prints and paintings. Magnificent Keeps.
Osaka or Nagoya Castle)? Another original Japanese castle keep is Inuyama Castle (犬山城) which is located on a small hill in Gifu Prefecture and can easily be visited as a day trip from Nagoya. At least you’ll have As you can tell I’ve been to some of them more than once. It's very nice looking, but there isn't much to see there. Luckily some of them are located conveniently in the same region. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website.
Howl's Moving Castle Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl.