Tokushima Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Tokushima

Terraced on Mount Shiroyama, an isolated hill about sixty metres high in the heart of Tokushima, Tokushima Castle was for nearly three centuries the residence of the Hachisuka lords, masters of Awa Province. Hachisuka Iemasa, to whom Toyotomi Hideyoshi had entrusted the province in 1585, immediately began its construction and completed it in 1586 on a hill already fortified in the late 14th century. The castle combined enclosures aligned from west to east along the ridge with a palace at the foot of the hill, the whole protected by rivers and moats. The original keep, demolished in the early 17th century, was replaced by a three-level turret serving as a keep. After the abolition of the domains, almost all the buildings were destroyed in 1875; only the Washi-no-mon gate survived until the 1945 air raid, before being rebuilt in 1989. What remains today are remarkable green-schist stone walls, moats and the Omote-goten garden, created around 1600 under the direction of the tea master Ueda Sōko and designated a Place of Scenic Beauty. The site, now Tokushima Central Park, is a National Historic Site and hosts the Tokushima Castle Museum. It is one of Japan's 100 Fine Castles.