in Kitakyushu, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 was built by Hosokawa Tadaoki

Hosokawa Tadaoki

was the eldest son of Hosokawa Fujitaka. He fought in his first battle at the age of 15. In that battle, he was in the service of Oda Nobunaga. He was given the Province of Tango in 1580. Soon after that, he married Hosokawa Gracia, the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. In 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide...

 in 1602. It was the property of the Ogasawara clan

Ogasawara clan

The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ogasawara acted as shugo of Shinano province in the medieval period The was a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Ogasawara acted as shugo (governors) of Shinano province in the medieval period The was a...

 (from Harima) between 1632 and 1860. The castle was burnt down in 1865 in the war between the Kokura

Kokura

is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyūshū, Japan, guarding, via its suburb Moji, the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshū and Kyūshū. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound Sanyo Shinkansen line, which is owned by JR Kyūshū and an important part of the...

 and Chōshū clans.

Mori Ogai

Mori Ogai

was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...

 was based at the castle at the turn of the 19th-20th century when it was a military base.

The keep was reconstructed in 1959, and the castle was fully restored in 1990. The Matsumoto Seicho museum and castle garden were opened in 1998. The old Japanese-style pre-Brunton

Richard Henry Brunton

Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE was the so-called "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland...

 lighthouse from Shirasu is in the castle grounds.

Location

The castle is about a ten-minute walk from JR Kyushu's Kokura Station

Kokura Station

in Kokura Kita ward is the main railway station in Kitakyushu, Japan. It is part of the JR Kyushu network and the Sanyo Shinkansen stops here. It is the second largest station in Kyūshū with 120,000 users daily...

.
The North side of the moat is next to the Riverwalk

Riverwalk Kitakyushu

is a prestigious shopping centre near the Murasaki river and Kokura Castle in Kokura Kita ward, Kitakyushu, Japan. It was opened as part of the Kitakyushu Renaissance policy on April 19, 2003 and includes theatres, restaurants, a multiplex cinema, NHK studios, the head offices of Zenrin Co...

shopping complex (completed in 2003).

Attractions

The keep contains a modern folkloric museum and admission is charged to the keep (350 yen), garden (300 yen) and Matsumoto Seicho museum (400 yen). A joint ticket to the three attractions costs 700 yen.

The keep is not an accurate reconstruction. When it was reconstructed in 1959, the designers opted for a more aesthetically appealing design instead of faithfully rebuilding the simpler structure that once stood on the site.

External links

• Kokura Castle - Kitakyushu film commission
• Kokura Castle (Japanese)
• Kokura Castle (English)
• Kokura Castle - Japan Kyushu Tourist