Okazaki Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Okazaki Castle, nicknamed the "Dragon Castle" (Ryūjō), stands on a hill beside the Sugo River in the centre of Okazaki. It is famous as the birthplace, in 1542 or 1543 depending on the calendar, of Tokugawa Ieyasu, future founder of the Edo shogunate. The young lord returned here in 1560 after the battle of Okehazama and made it the base of his independence. Growing out of a 15th-century fortification, the castle was moved to its present site by Ieyasu's grandfather, Matsudaira Kiyoyasu. During the Edo period its prestige as the first shōgun's birthplace meant it was entrusted to hereditary vassals, and the Tōkaidō road was routed through the castle town. Dismantled in the early Meiji era, it kept only its walls and moats; the present keep, rebuilt in 1959, houses a museum. The neighbouring Okazaki Park also has a museum devoted to Ieyasu and the samurai of Mikawa.