Hikone Castle: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:51, 19 February 2018

A beautiful castle inside and out with many small interesting points here and there. Take your time to explore and enjoy it. Don't miss the various yagura and gates in a rush to get to the main main keep. With the reconstructed lord's palace and the original gardens on teh grounds of this castle, in

History

For his participation in the Battle of Sekigahara, Ii Naomasa was awardded Sawayama castle and surrounding lands. Due to its inconvenient locationa and poor condition, he soon started planning for a new castle on a new location that would become Hikone Castle.

Unfortunately, Naomasa died soon after and the castle was actually begun under his son Naotsugu. It took 20 years and was completed under Naotsugu's brother Naotaka who had become lord of the castle in 1615. The main keep of Hikone-jo is famous for having used several types of gables and construction techniques to make it well fortified. The main keep and connected yagura are designated National Treasures. I find it amazing that the ii family magaed to maintain their rule over Hikone Castle over 250 from the beginning of the Edo Period until the Meiji restoration.

Field Notes

A beautiful castle inside and out with many small interesting points here and there. Take your time to explore and enjoy it. Don't miss the various yagura and gates in a rush to get to the main main keep. With the reconstructed lord's palace and the original gardens on teh grounds of this castle, in some ways it demonstrates what a castle was really like even more so than Himeji Castle.

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Gallery

More Galleries and Feature Pages

(61 photos)

(10 photos)

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Sawaguchi Tamon Yagura Special Exhibit

(19 photos)

Castle Town

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Genkyuen Garden

(18 photos)

Castle Profile
English Name	Hikone Castle
Japanese Name	彦根城
Founder	Ii Naomasa
Year Founded	1603
Castle Type	Hilltop
Castle Condition	Original main keep
Designations	Top 100 Castles, has Important Cultural Properties, has National Treasures, Special Historic Site
Historical Period	Edo Period
Main Keep Structure	3 levels, 3 stories
Artifacts	Tenbin Yagura, Taiko Gate and Tsuzuki Yagura, Nishinomaru 3 level yagura and tsuzukiyagura, tenshu, Tsukiyagura, Tamon Yagura, umaya, Ninomaru Sawaguchi Tamon Yagura
Features	main keep, gates, turrets, palace, water moats, stone walls, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Hikone Station (Tokaido Honsen), walk 15 minutes
Hours
Time Required
URL	Castle Website
Location	Hikone, Shiga Prefecture
Coordinates	35.27649, 136.25174
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	1999
Admin Year Visited	1996, 2004
Admin Visits	April 1996, February 21, 2004

4.71

(56 votes)

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@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 |History=For his participation in the Battle of Sekigahara, Ii Naomasa was awardded Sawayama castle and surrounding lands. Due to its inconvenient locationa and poor condition, he soon started planning for a new castle on a new location that would become Hikone Castle.
-Unfortunately, Naomasa died soon after and the castle was actually begun under his son Naotsugu. It took 20 years and was completed under Naotsugu's brother Naotaka who had become lord of the castle in 1615. </p><p>The main keep of Hikone-jo is famous for having used several types of gables and construction techniques to make it well fortified. The main keep and connected yagura are designated National Treasures.</p><p>I find it amazing that the ii family magaed to maintain their rule over Hikone Castle over 250 from the beginning of the Edo Period until the Meiji restoration.
+Unfortunately, Naomasa died soon after and the castle was actually begun under his son Naotsugu. It took 20 years and was completed under Naotsugu's brother Naotaka who had become lord of the castle in 1615.  The main keep of Hikone-jo is famous for having used several types of gables and construction techniques to make it well fortified. The main keep and connected yagura are designated National Treasures. I find it amazing that the ii family magaed to maintain their rule over Hikone Castle over 250 from the beginning of the Edo Period until the Meiji restoration.
 |Year Visited=1996, 2004
 |AddedJcastle=1999