Shimabara Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Shimabara Castle stands on a low hill extending from the Unzen massif, in the eastern part of the city of Shimabara. Matsukura Shigemasa had it built from 1618, at a time when the shogunate strictly limited new construction; it was this rarity that heritage authorities emphasized in designating it a national site. The broadly rectangular plan aligns the honmaru, ninomaru and sannomaru from south to north, while an outer enclosure to the north took in the retainers' residences. Historical figures for the towers differ between publications, which calls for caution, but all describe an imposing complex around a five-story keep. The burden placed on the population and the Matsukura repression of Christians are regularly associated with the Shimabara-Amakusa Rebellion, during which the stronghold was besieged in 1637 without falling. Sold off and dismantled in early Meiji, the castle lost its old buildings; the present keep and towers date from 1960 to 1980 and are reconstructions, the 1964 keep moreover departing from old images. What remains are the stone walls of the original construction and the moats, part of which have been filled in. A municipal project envisages restoring the covered bridge that once linked the ninomaru to the honmaru, with no definitive timetable.