I visited Nagoya Castle in 2017 and was able to tour the castle at that time. Now the castle is closed due to earthquake resistance concerns. I will do a separate post about the beautiful Hommaru Palace restoration. The construction was not complete when I visited in 2017.
This is the history of the castle from the jcastle website -
In 1610 Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the construction of Nagoya-jo to solidify the Tokugawa authority in Owari (Nagoya and vicinity). The castle was completed in 1612 and Tokugawa's ninth son Yoshinao entered the castle in 1616 from which he governed over Owari. Nagoya-jo is famous for the 2 golden shachihoko that adorn the top of its main keep. That is why it is also known as "Kinshachi-jo." Kin means "gold" and shachi refers to the killer whale type mythical creatures that sit atop the main keep and other castle structures.
The entry fee is 500 yen and the castle area is open from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm. There is a lot of English signage.
It was a hot day, so there weren’t many people there the day I was there.
2 comments:
I sure hope an earthquake isn't going to take down this castle after it survived for so long!
Do you recall the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake and its devastating impact on Kumamoto Castle? We don't want anything like that to happen again. What was fortunate in that case was that no one was injured or killed.
Japanese castles always attract many visitors whose lives could be lost if they were to fall down all of a sudden during opening hours. Safety first!
However, a positive aspect of the damage to the castle in Kumamoto was that, through the lengthy and meticulous reconstruction work, craftsmen, masons, carpenters, and engineers all had a reason to study, hone, document, and maintain the skills needed to build a castle.
It has been a very costly project, but one well worth the while.
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