Fukuyama Castle

photo by 663highland · CC BY 2.5

photo by The Modern Polymath · CC BY-SA 4.0

The only Japanese castle with a tenshu clad in iron on its north side, restored in 2022.

Arriving from the north, you see the tenshu clad in iron plates against cannon fire, a choice unique among Japanese castles, just restored (2020–2022) in the ‘Reiwa no Ōbushin’ project and reopened on 28 August 2022 for the 400th anniversary of its construction. At its foot, the Fushimi turret and the main gate, brought from the old Fushimi Castle, are the only buildings that are not a reconstruction.

It was the last great newly built castle of the early Edo period, completed in 1622 by Mizuno Katsunari: an exception to the edict of 1615, which banned a second castle in any province. It was the seat of the Fukuyama domain, founded by the same Miz⁠uno Katsunari in 1619, and the museum inside now tells its history. The bombing of 8 August 1945 destroyed the main tower, but the Fushimi turret and the main gate, moved here from Fushimi Castle, were saved from the flames and remain Important Cultural Properties; the present tenshu, in reinforced concrete, was rebuilt in 1966 for the city's fiftieth anniversary.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–17:00 (9:00–18:30 from April to August, last entry half an hour before closing), closed on Mondays and from 28 to 31 December. Adult ticket 500 yen (400 yen in groups of 20+); free for students up to high school.

🚉 Fukuyama · 6 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · shirobito.jp · city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp

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