Fukuyama Castle (Bingo)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Hiroshima

Fukuyama Castle, in Bingo Province, is one of the last great castles built in Japan after the 1615 edict restricting fortresses. In 1619 the Tokugawa shogunate installed Mizuno Katsunari, cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu, here to keep watch on the great lords of the west; the castle was completed in 1622 and Katsunari named the town Fukuyama. Its keep with five roofs and six floors, about 30 m high, was one of the tallest in the country after those of the Tokugawa castles; its north face, exposed to fire from the hills, was clad in iron plates. Designated a National Treasure in 1933, it burned in the air raid of 8 August 1945 and was rebuilt in 1966 for the city's 50th anniversary; it houses the castle museum. Two original buildings survive, both Important Cultural Properties: the Fushimi-yagura turret, moved from Fushimi Castle in Kyoto on the orders of shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada, and the Sujigane-gomon gate, whose leaves are reinforced with iron strips. For the castle's 400th anniversary in 2022, the iron cladding of the keep's north face was restored. The castle stands five minutes' walk from Fukuyama Station, right by the Shinkansen platforms.