Sunpu Castle

Most people just view the gate and leave, but the grounds of the castle are quite large and worth your time to walk around. There are are 2 good layers of moats remaining and the stone walls have many owner's marks or inscriptions in them. See how many you can find.

History

Sunpu Castle originally started as a yakata, or fortified palace, for Imakawa Norimasa in the 1400's. However, the exact location of this palace or any other details about it are unknown. An actual castle of the type of castle we think of today was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1585. The main keep of Sunpu Castle was said to have been built three times. The second by Ieyasu in 1605 after he turned over the shogunate to Hidetada and the third was two years later after it burned down in a fire. The third keep also burned to the ground in another fire in 1635 and was never rebuilt. The castle lasted in this state until the Meiji Period when the it was dismantled and the moats were filled in. Sunpu Castle is most well known as the "retirement castle" of Ieyasu after he relinquished the shogunate to Hidetada.

Field Notes

Most people just view the gate and leave, but the grounds of the castle are quite large and worth your time to walk around. There are are 2 good layers of moats remaining and the stone walls have many owner's marks or inscriptions in them. See how many you can find.

Loading map...

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Gallery

• 

  gate and yagura
• 

  Higashi Gomon Gate
• 

  Tatsumi Yagura
• 

  koraimon of the Higashi Gomon Gate
• 

  yaguramon of the Higashi Gomon Gate
• 

  Yaguramon of the Higashi Gomon
• 

  Honmaru Moat
• 

  Kitamon Bridge
• 

  Ninomaru moat
• 

  Yotsuashi Gomon Gate
• 

  Ninomaru moat
• 

  Ninomaru moat
• 

  South Gate and bridge
• 

  Ninomaru moat
• 

  stone wall remnants of Ninomaru bailey
• 

  Remains of the Kitamon Gate
• 

  map
• 
• 
• 

Castle Profile
English Name	Sunpu Castle
Japanese Name	駿府城
Founder	Tokugawa Ieyasu
Year Founded	1585
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	Top 100 Castles
Historical Period	Edo Period
Features	gates, turrets, bridges, water moats, stone walls, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Shizuoka Station (Tokaido main line), 10 minute walk
Hours
Time Required
URL	Castle Website
Location	Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture
Coordinates	34.97786, 138.38449
Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":6,"defzoom":14,"layers":["CartoDB.Positron"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":34.97786,"lon":138.38449,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2004
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2004, 2011
Admin Visits	February 23, 2004, June 3, 2011

2.55

(20 votes)

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