Kakunodate Station (Akita Shinkansen); 15 minute walk
The castle is about a 20 minute uphill walk from the stoplight at the end of the samurai quarter. It is not a difficult climb, but is a climb nevertheless. It is well worth your time to visit the top of the mountain and castle site simply for the stunning views of the valley and the town below. It looks like the castle originally was well developed with many small baileys around the mountain and side baileys (koshiguruwa) and stepped baileys, but many areas of the map say "unsurveyed" so it may have been even larger than what is known today. In the town, there are a lot of old "looking" houses and old houses in the castle town but only a handful of original samurai homes, only 6 of which are open to the public. See the individual samurai home pages for the details of each. There is also one original gate that has been relocated in the town. See the photos and map below for details.
20 mins for the castle itself, most of one day for the castle and castle town
Kakunodate Castle
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