Kanazawa Castle

This is an amazing castle. It has only three original structures; the Ishikawamon Gate, Sanjikken Yagura, and the Tsurumaru Storehouse, but the vast stone walls, excellent reconstructions, extant samurai homes, and one of the most famous gardens in Japan, make it a 5 Star must-see site for anyone. A

History

The castle was first founded by Sakuma Morimasa, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, and nephew of Shibata Katsuie in 1580. He started to build up the castle and castle town but was defeated and executed by Hideyoshi at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583. After the battle, Maeda Toshiie, an ally of Hideyoshi, who held the neighboring Noto province was also given Kaga province. It was taken over by Maeda Toshiie, who built up the castle in earnest. In 1585, Maeda was also granted the lands of Ecchu, making him one of the richest lords under the Toyotomi regime. The Maeda clan established a prosperous province which allowed them to rule peacefully for 14 generations until the end of the Meiji period.

The castle originally had a large six-level main keep, but it burned down in 1602 and was never rebuilt. Kanazawa Castle had several fires that destroyed parts of the castle over the years. The Kenrokuen Garden was built at about the same elevation as the Honmaru of the castle in 1676 and gradually expanded over 150 years. Formally it was intended for entertaining, but if any attackers made it this far into the city it's the perfect location to build a base for further attacks on the castle, so it was lightly fortified as a satellite fortification of the main castle.

Field Notes

This is an amazing castle. It has only three original structures; the Ishikawamon Gate, Sanjikken Yagura, and the Tsurumaru Storehouse, but the vast stone walls, excellent reconstructions, extant samurai homes, and one of the most famous gardens in Japan, make it a 5 Star must-see site for anyone. After three visits I think I can comfortably say that I've seen more than 90% of this castle, but I know that I still missed at least one samurai home and some of the Sogamae defense ruins. Depending on how throughly you want to tour this castle you could easily spend 3 or more days in Kanazawa just for the castle and related sites!

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Gallery

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Castle Profile
English Name	Kanazawa Castle
Japanese Name	金沢城
Alternate Names	Oyama-jo
Founder	Maeda Toshiie
Year Founded	1580
Castle Type	Hilltop
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	Top 100 Castles, has Important Cultural Properties, National Historic Site
Historical Period	Edo Period
Artifacts	Ishikawa Gate, Tsurumaru Warehouse, Sanjukken Nagaya
Features	gates, turrets, samurai homes, water moats, trenches, stone walls, walls, castle town
Visitor Information
Access	Kanazawa Sta. (Hokuriku Line), 15 minutes by bus
Hours	Park open 7am to 6pm (March 1-October 15), 8am to 5pm otherwise. The Buildings are open 9am to 4:30pm. The castle buildings are 310 yen for admission or you can get a combination ticket with the Kenrokuen Gardens for 500 yen.
Time Required	180 mins
URL	Castle Website
Location	Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture
Coordinates	36.56549, 136.65928
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2006
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2006, 2016, 2020
Admin Visits	June 10, 2006; Oct 29, 2016; Oct. 15, 2020
Friends of JCastle
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