Begun in 1597, the castle has lost its keep: the ramparts of local granite remain.
On the promontory between the Kitakami River and the Nakatsugawa, in 1597 Nanbu Nobunao began a castle built entirely of stone (rare in Tōhoku), completed in 1633 by his son Toshinao, who, once construction was finished, changed the name of the place from Kozukata to ‘Morioka’. Demolished after 1874, it is now a park of ruins with only its granite ramparts left, among 250 cherry trees, and in 2006 it was selected as one of the hundred castles of Japan.
Ruins of the castle of the Nanbu, lords of the Morioka domain in the Edo period, now a city park, open to the public since 1906 under the historic name of ‘Iwate Kōen’.
ℹ️ Public park, free entry, always open. The cherry blossom season (late April) is the most crowded time.
🚉 Morioka · 17 min walk
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Nearby
Sakurayama Shrine200 mphoto by 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Iwate Bank Red Brick Building400 mphoto by 掬茶 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Morioka Station1.2 kmphoto by Suicasmo · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hōon-ji1.4 kmphoto by 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0