Memorable castle sites in Japan

Hirosaki Castle burned down before the Meiji Restoration, so one of the corner towers became the "main" castle building. This is the northeastern-most original castle left in Japan.

This is a beautifully restored original castle in the Japan Alps. This is the perfect castle to visit if you want to spend some time admiring the surrounding scenery and visiting hot springs.

Maruoka Castle in Fukui Prefecture is a small castle originally built in 1576 and reconstructed with original materials in 1955 after an earthquake. It is most notable for its old style of construction, but little remains besides the donjon. The moat has been buried and covered with asphalt, and shops and other modern buildings have replaced the original structures.

This is the only privately-owned castle in Japan, and it also boasts the oldest surviving tenshu. One of the most photogenic views of the castle is from across the river.

Hikone Castle is a great hilltop castle to visit to see not only an original tenshu but also original yagura and other structures along with a garden.

Himeji Castle will look familiar from its appearance in many historical movies and TV shows. If you can only visit one castle during your stay in Japan and want to see what an original castle looked like, Himeji will be your best bet. As you walk to the castle from the train station you will pass a number of ruins showing where walls and moats used to be. You get the feeling for the grand scale of the castle grounds before most were destroyed to make way for the expanding city. The castle museum also includes displays of armor and racks of replica firearms and spears to remind you the castle was a defense installation at one time and not simply decorative architecture.

Above the small town of Takahashi stands a wonderful original mountain castle. To get there you can take a drive up or take the train on the Hakubi-line from Kurashiki. You will have to hike or take a taxi to get up the hill to get to the site.

This castle in the city of Matsue along the Japan Sea coast has an original tenshu and nearby houses from its time as a castle town.

Of the 4 original castles left on Shikoku (Kochi, Marugame, and Uwajima being the other 3), Matsuyama Castle has the largest area and most original structures. If you can only see one of the 4 on your trip to Shikoku, see this one. If you don't want to walk up the hill, take the chair lift.

Kochi Castle stands smack-dab in the center of the city. Surrounding the original tenshu are a number of original buildings.

This is one of the newer and smaller of the original castles left in Japan.

I rate this the 3rd most important of the 4 original castles on Shikoku (ahead of Uwajima but behind Kochi). It has the original tenshu and 2 gates, and the ishigaki (stone foundations) are impressive for their extent.

This castle does not have an original tenshu, but it does have some other original buildings and looks impressive.