Kumamoto Castle

History

After the battle of Sekigahara, Kato Kiyomasa built this incredible fortress in Kumamoto. The castle expertly utilizes the geography to make one of the most impregnable castles ever built in Japan.

The Kato reign ended after only two generations when Kiyomasa's son was replaced by Hosokawa Tadatoshi in 1632. The Hosokawa reigned for 240 years until the Meiji Period.

The main keep and connected smaller tower, among other buildings, were burned to the ground during the Satsuma rebellion of 1877

Visit Notes

As everyone knows, Kumamoto Castle was badly damaged in the 2016 earthquake. I've not personally visited this castle, and the album below are photo contributions from many years ago. I recommend you to go to the Kumamoto Castle website for more information and also to visit the fantastic album from Malcolm linked here

Gallery

Kumamoto-jo Donjon
main keep
main keep
main keep and connected tower
kotenshu
Utoyagura
view from Utoyagura
Utoyagura
Utoyagura
Inui Yagura
stone walls
stone walls
stone wall, yagura
yagura, donjon
stone walls
stone walls, yagura
stone walls, yagura
stone walls, yagura
stone walls, yagura

Castle Profile
English Name	Kumamoto Castle
Japanese Name	熊本城
Alternate Names	Ginnan-jo
Founder	Kato Kiyomasa
Year Founded	1607
Castle Type	Hilltop
Castle Condition	Reconstructed main keep
Designations	Top 100 Castles, has Important Cultural Properties, National Historic Site, Special Historic Site
Historical Period	Edo Period
Main Keep Structure	3 levels, 6 floors, 1 floor below ground
Year Reconstructed	1960
Artifacts	Utoyagura, East Juuhachiken Yagura, North Juuhachiken Yagura, Goken Yagura, Gennoshin Yagura, Juuyonken Yagura, Shichiken Yagura, Hirayagura, Kenmotsu Yagura, Nagabei, Tako Yagura, Yonken Yagura, Akazuno mon
Features	main keep, gates, turrets, palace, trenches, stone walls, walls, castle town
Visitor Information
Access	Kumamoto Sta. (Kagoshima Line), city bus
Visitor Information
Time Required
Website	https://castle.kumamoto-guide.jp/en/
Location	Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture
Coordinates	32° 48' 22.21" N, 130° 42' 20.63" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2005
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Malcolm Fairman Photography - Kumamoto Castle

4.69

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Matthew WardGunshi

2 months ago

Score 0

I visited Kumamoto Castle not long before the earthquake, and was extremely impressed. It’s a very large, imposing castle with extensive stone walls and a great variety of yagura (11 in all), many of them original. Some of them are bigger than the main keeps of smaller castles--the Uto Yagura pictured above, for example, is like a main keep and is my favorite structure in the castle. At the time, we were able to enter at least a few of them, and not surprisingly, they had more atmosphere than the main keep did. That said, the main keep and small main keep are good reconstructions for concrete buildings, and give you a good view of many of the other castle buildings. The partially reconstruction of the palace (in wood) was also an excellent visit.

As many castle fans presumably know, 2 out of the 11 original yagura collapsed in the earthquake (others were damaged). These are both Tamon-style turrets, not the tall ones I write about entering above. One question I have that I haven’t been able to resolve with Japanese and English-language web searches: will the ongoing restoration effort be able to reconstruct those turrets with largely original materials, allowing them to remain classified as original buildings as the main keep of Maruoka Castle? I hope so

At any rate, while this isn’t in my personal top 3 castles, I think it fully deserves its usual classification as one of the 3 greatest castles in Japan, and is at least in my top 5. I doubt it currently has all of its its pre-earthquake majesty. I don’t doubt, however, that the continuing reconstruction will eventually restore it to its full glory,