Echizen-Ōno Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Fukui

Perched on Mount Kameyama, an isolated hill overlooking the town of Ōno, Echizen-Ōno Castle is one of the most evocative fortified sites in Fukui Prefecture. It was founded from 1575 by Kanamori Nagachika, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga rewarded with two thirds of Ōno District after the pacification of Echizen Province. At the eastern foot of the hill the lord laid out a grid-plan castle town, still recognisable today, which earned Ōno the nickname of the “little Kyōto” of Hokuriku. After Kanamori left for Takayama in 1586, the castle passed through several hands before becoming the seat of the Ōno Domain, held by branches of the Matsudaira and then, from 1682 to the end of the Edo period, by the Doi clan. Destroyed by fire in 1775, it was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century, then dismantled after the Meiji Restoration. The present keep, erected in 1968 thanks to a private donation and based on estimates of its former appearance, houses a museum devoted to the Kanamori and Doi families. The rough-stone walls of the main enclosure survive, and on misty autumn mornings the castle seems to float above a sea of clouds.