List of the 100 Best Castles in Japan, Which One is Your Favorite?
The Japan Castle Foundation released a list of 100 best castles in the country in 2006. The list aimed to promote the famous castles and attract more tourists.
The list included five castles that are national treasures of Japan: Hikone, Himeji, Inuyama, Matsue, and Matsumoto. Himeji Castle is also a UNESCO World Heritage site by itself, while Okinawa castle or gusuku is part of the Gusuku Site and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryūkyū, and Nijō Castle is part of the Historical Monuments of Ancient Kyoto.
The castles were selected based on their cultural and historical value, their significance in history, and their representation of different regions and periods. The expert committee also considered how well they were preserved and how they related to the castle building in Japan.
The list covered the whole history of Japanese castles, which were mostly built from the early fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, especially in the Warring States period (1467-1568).
The oldest castle on the list is the Yoshinogari site in Saga Prefecture, a moat village from the Yayoi period (around 300 BC-300 AD). The early castles were simple and practical, and this continued until the Warring States period, when they built yamajiro, or mountain castles.
Warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) started to build more impressive castles as a sign of power with his Azuchi Castle. The castle was destroyed when Nobunaga died or three years after it was finished in 1579, but it influenced the later castles.
Japan built many of its famous castles from the late 16th century to the early 17th century. These castles had central towers, stone walls, and moats that are now the common images of Japanese castles.
The castle building era mostly ended in the long peaceful period of the Edo period (1603-1868). However, one new castle on the list is the Western-style Goryōkaku in Hakodate, Hokkaidō. It was built from 1857 after the Japan-U.S. Treaty of Peace and Friendship opened the city to foreign trade.
Many historical castles were lost to natural disasters, planned demolitions by the new government in the early Edo period and Meiji era (1868-1912), and World War II bombings. Only 12 castles with original central towers from before 1868 are still standing.
Many of the castles that people can see today are modern replicas, but they are faithful to history and have interesting exhibits. They are still popular with visitors.
Here's a list of the 100 best castles in Japan.
Hokkaidō and Tōhoku
Nemuro Peninsula Chashi Sites (Hokkaidō) (16th to 18th centuries)
Goryōkaku (Hokkaidō) (1857)
Matsumae Castle (Hokkaidō) (1606)
Hirosaki Castle (Aomori Prefecture) (1611)
Ne Castle (Aomori Prefecture) (1334)
Morioka Castle (Iwate Prefecture) (1598)
Taga Castle (Miyagi Prefecture) (724)
Sendai Castle / Aoba Castle (Miyagi Prefecture) (1600)
Kubota Castle (Akita Prefecture) (1603)
Yamagata Castle (Yamagata Prefecture) (1357)
Nihonmatsu Castle / Kasumigajō (Fukushima Prefecture) (1414)
Aizuwakamatsu Castle / Tsurugajō (Fukushima Prefecture) (1384, 1593)
Shirakawa Komine Castle (Fukushima Prefecture) (1369, 1632)
Kantō dan Kōshin'etsu
Mito Castle (Ibaraki Prefecture) (1214, 1624)
Ashikaga Residence (Tochigi Prefecture) (c. 12th century)
Minowa Castle (Gunma Prefecture) (ca. 1500)
Kanayama Castle (Gunma Prefecture) (1469)
Hachigata Castle (Saitama Prefecture) (1476)
Kawagoe Castle (Saitama Prefecture) (1457)
Sakura Castle (Chiba Prefecture) (c. mid-16th century, 1611)
Edo Castle (Tokyo) (1457, 1607)
Hachiōji Castle (Tokyo) (ca. 1584)
Odawara Castle (Kanagawa Prefecture) (c. mid-15th century)
Takedashi Residence (Yamanashi Prefecture) (1519)
Kōfu Castle (Yamanashi Prefecture) (1590s)
Matsushiro Castle (Nagano Prefecture) (ca. 1560, 1622)
Ueda Castle (Nagano Prefecture) (1583)
Comoros Castle (Nagano Prefecture) (1554, 1590)
Matsumoto Castle (Nagano Prefecture)(National Treasure)(1593-94)
Takatō Castle (Nagano Prefecture) (c. 14th century, 1547)
Shibata Castle (Niigata Prefecture) (1598)
Kasugayama Castle (Niigata Prefecture) (circa 15th century, circa mid-16th century)
Hokuriku dan Tokai
Takaoka Castle (Toyama Prefecture) (1609)
Nanao Castle (Ishikawa Prefecture) (first half of the 16th century)
Kanazawa Castle (Ishikawa Prefecture) (1580, 1583)
Maruoka Castle (Fukui Prefecture) (1576, 1624-44)
Ichijōdani Castle (Fukui Prefecture) (second half of the 15th century)
Iwamura Castle (Gifu Prefecture) (1185)
Gifu Castle (Gifu Prefecture) (1201)
Yamanaka Castle (Shizuoka Prefecture) (ca. 1530-60)
Sunpu Castle (Shizuoka Prefecture) (1585)
Kakegawa Castle (Shizuoka Prefecture) (ca. 1512, 1590)
Inuyama Castle (Aichi Prefecture)(National Treasure)(1537* Nagoya Castle (Aichi Prefecture) (1610)
Okazaki Castle (Aichi Prefecture) (ca. 1455)
Nagashino Castle (Aichi Prefecture) (1508)
Iga Ueno Castle (Mie Prefecture) (1585, 1608)
Matsusaka Castle (Mie Prefecture) (1588)
Kansai
Odani Castle (Shiga Prefecture) (ca. 1525)
Hikone Castle (Shiga Prefecture)(National Treasure)(1607)
Azuchi Castle (Shiga Prefecture) (1579)
Kannonji Castle (Shiga Prefecture) (14th–15th centuries)
Nijō Castle (Kyoto Prefecture)(UNESCO World Heritage)(1603)
Osaka Castle (Osaka Prefecture) (1583, 1620)
Chihaya Castle (Osaka Prefecture) (1332)
Takeda Castle (Hyogo Prefecture) (1443)
Sasayama Castle (Hyogo Prefecture) (1609)
Akashi Castle (Hyogo Prefecture) (1619)
Himeji Castle (Hyōgo Prefecture)(National Treasure/UNESCO World Heritage)(1580, 1601)
Akō Castle (Hyogo Prefecture) (1661)
Takatori Castle (Nara Prefecture) (1332, 1585)
Wakayama Castle (Wakayama Prefecture) (1585)
Chūgoku and Shikoku
Tottori Castle (Tottori Prefecture) (c. mid-16th century, 1617)
Matsue Castle (Shimane Prefecture) (National Treasure) (1607)
Gassantoda Castle (Shimane Prefecture) (late 1150s)
Tsuwano Castle (Shimane Prefecture) (1295, 1605)
Tsuyama Castle (Okayama Prefecture) (1604)
Bitchu Matsuyama Castle (Okayama Prefecture) (1240)
Ki Castle (Okayama Prefecture) (c. 7th century)
Okayama Castle (Okayama Prefecture) (1597)
Fukuyama Castle (Hiroshima Prefecture) (1619)
Kōriyama Castle (Hiroshima Prefecture) (c. mid-14th century, c. 1551)
Hiroshima Castle (Hiroshima Prefecture) (1589)
Iwakuni Castle (Yamaguchi Prefecture) (1608)
Hagi Castle (Yamaguchi Prefecture) (1604)
Tokushima Castle (Tokushima Prefecture) (1586)
Takamatsu Castle (Kagawa Prefecture) (1587)
Marugame Castle (Kagawa Prefecture) (1597, 1660)
Imabari Castle (Ehime Prefecture) (1602)
Yuzuki Castle (Ehime Prefecture) (ca. 1335)
Matsuyama Castle (Ehime Prefecture) (1602)
Ōzu Castle (Ehime Prefecture) (1331)
Uwajima Castle (Ehime Prefecture) (1601, c. 1666)
Kōchi Castle (Kōchi Prefecture) (1601)
Kyushu and Okinawa
Fukuoka Castle (Fukuoka Prefecture) (1601)
Ōno Castle (Fukuoka Prefecture) (665)
Nagoya Castle (Saga Prefecture) (1592)
Yoshinogari (Saga Prefecture) (1st–3rd centuries)
Saga Castle (Saga Prefecture) (1608)
Hirado Castle (Nagasaki Prefecture) (1704)
Shimabara Castle (Nagasaki Prefecture) (1618)
Kumamoto Castle (Kumamoto Prefecture) (1607)
Hitoyoshi Castle (Kumamoto Prefecture) (1199)
Ōita Funai Castle (Ōita Prefecture) (1597, 1602)
Oka Castle (Ōita Prefecture) (1185, 1596)
Obi Castle (Miyazaki Prefecture) (14th century, 1686)
Kagoshima Castle (Kagoshima Prefecture) (ca. 1601)
Nakijin Castle (Okinawa)(UNESCO World Heritage)(c. 13th century)
Nakagusuku Castle (Okinawa)(UNESCO World Heritage)(circa mid-14th century)
Shuri Castle (Okinawa)(UNESCO World Heritage)(c. 14th century)