Yamato Koriyama Castle

History

After Tsutsui Junkei defeated his long time enemy Matsunaga Hisahide in 1580 he moved to Koriyama strengthening the fortifications that were there and building Koriyama Castle. In 1585 Hideyoshi's brother Hidenaga moved into Koriyama Castle and conducted many improvements making it into a large scale modern castle. He also confiscated many stones from nearby temple gardens and even religious statues for use in the walls. Mashita Nagamori moved into the castle in 1595 but abandoned it when he lost at the Battle of Sekigahara. The castle fell into disrepair for a time until Ieyasu stationed Mizuno Katsushige here in 1615 and commissioned him to reconstruct the castle. Yanagisawa Yoshisato became lord of the castle in 1724. The Yanagisawa continued to rule until the Meiji Restoration when the castle was abandoned.

Visit Notes

This site was much better than I expected. The reconstructed buildings and many remaining moats and stone walls make this a great location to visit. The castle was designated a National Historic Site in 2022.

Gallery

Otemon Gate
Ote East Corner Yagura
Yanagi Gate stone walls
Sakuramon Gate stone walls
Stone walls of the Kuroganemon Gate
Honmaru moat and stone walls
Honmaru moat and stone walls
Ote Mukai Yagura
Otemon
Otemon
Ote Mukai Yagura
Back of the Otemon Gate
Ote East Corner Yagura
Ote East Corner Yagura
Ote East Corner Yagura
Tamon Yagura or the Otemon Gate
Honmaru moat
Main keep foundation
Main keep foundation
Stone walls of the Gokuraku Bridge and Hakutaku Gate
Gokuraku Bridge and Hakutaku Gate
Stone walls of the Chikurin Bridge and gate
Stone walls of the Chikurin Gate
Stone walls of the Chikurin Gate
Stone walls of the Shoin Gate
Shoin Ike Moat
Stone walls near the Shoin Gate
Unagibori Ike Stone walls
Unagibori Ike Moat
Map

Castle Profile
English Name	Yamato Koriyama Castle
Japanese Name	大和郡山城
Founder	Tsutsui Junkei
Year Founded	1580
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	Next 100 Castles, National Historic Site
Historical Period	Edo Period
Features	gates, turrets, water moats, stone walls, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Yamato Koriyama Sta. (Kintetsu Nara Line); 7 min. walk
Visitor Information	Open anytime. I hear that the reconstructed yagura and gate are open during certain times like the cherry blossom festival.
Time Required	90 mins
Website	http://www.yk-kankou.jp/spotDetail1.html
Location	Yamato Koriyama, Nara Prefecture
Coordinates	34° 39' 5.29" N, 135° 46' 46.52" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2009
Contributor	RaymondW
Admin Year Visited	2016
Admin Visits	Dec 24, 2016
Friends of JCastle
Malcolm Fairman Photography - Koriyama Castle

2.79

(14 votes)

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Matthew WardGunshi

17 months ago

Score 1

I went to this castle early this month (April 2023), during the castle festival. Really excellent place that I had never heard of till recently (I only found out about it because I noticed that my wife had a Kansai castle walk guidebook). But the ruins of the stone walls and moats are pretty grand and often dramatic. The rebuilt wooden bridge over the inner moat (quite a nice structure in itself) presents an especially great view. The rebuilt yagura and Ote gate are also nice and look authentic. I was able to go inside one of them--they were actually selling festival-related local goods there, which was interesting! The other really impressive thing was the main keep foundation--really imposing structure. There is a video about how they did it in the sort of visitors center (which I think is a historic library).

There are some other buildings on the site, including the visitors' center/old library, a shrine in the honmaru, and also another fairly grand building near the Ote Gate. None of these relate to castle defense as far as I can tell, but to me they added to the historical ambience of the place.

Anyway, not a great castle but a very good one and definitely worth checking out for people who live in Kansai.

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FurinkazanDaimyo

21 months ago

Score 1

On 11/12/2022 I visited this site again. I appreciated it more than on my first visit in 2010. I came from the JR Kôriyama station. It's about a 1.2km walk. First I went to the outer north bailey's gate and went straight to the moat around the still surviving buildings. The path around the honmaru is closed, due to works being done. The reconstructed bridge is a marvel. It wasn't there in 2010. I went also on the tenshudai(donjon foundation).

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ARTShogun

78 months ago

Score 2

Yamato-Kōriyamajō is probably Nara City’s closest major castle so you can go if you visit Nara. There is a reconstructed gate and a yagura here which are perched between and on top of beautiful stone walls and encircled by a complicated system of winding, spiraling moats, which range from dry, to muddy, to very deep water. I came on a festival day and the whole site was busy with vendors selling food and running games, children off school eating said food and playing said games, and couples on kimono dates viewing the cherry blossoms. The blossoms! Although yet to utterly explode into blooming effulgence, Sakura had started to appear, including a shidarezukura which droops over the moat and makes the yagura very photogenic. Little paths wind around the jagged inner moats surrounding the honmaru (main bailey), hemmed in by lanterns and bushes. The castle would’ve been very cosy if it didn’t also function as a death trap for invaders! The tenshukakudai remains, looking in its proportions like some tremendous ziggurat, and is yet formidable. Soon after my visit it became open to the public to ascend.

The outer baileys of the castle are spread throughout town and now you can find pockets of them forming little parks surrounded by traditional walls.

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ARTShogun

78 months ago

Score 1

Yamato-Kōriyamajō is probably Nara City’s closest major castle so you can go if you visit Nara. There is a reconstructed gate and a yagura here which are perched between and on top of beautiful stone walls and encircled by a complicated system of winding, spiraling moats, which range from dry, to muddy, to very deep water. I came on a festival day and the whole site was busy with vendors selling food and running games, children off school eating said food and playing said games, and couples on kimono dates viewing the cherry blossoms. The blossoms! Although yet to utterly explode into blooming effulgence, Sakura had started to appear, including a shidarezukura which droops over the moat and makes the yagura very photogenic. Little paths wind around the jagged inner moats surrounding the honmaru (main bailey), hemmed in by lanterns and bushes. The castle would’ve been very cosy if it didn’t also function as a death trap for invaders! The tenshukakudai remains, looking in its proportions like some tremendous ziggurat, and is yet formidable. Soon after my visit it became open to the public to ascend.

The outer baileys of the castle are spread throughout town and now you can find pockets of them forming little parks surrounded by traditional walls. One such pretty park I’ve also included in this album.

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SuupaahiirooAshigaru

92 months ago

Score 0

The viewing platform at the tenshu-dai will open to the public starting from March 26th, 13 o'clock. http://www.c.../004503.html

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Jcastle.oldHatamoto

93 months ago

Score 0

suupaahiiro, I visited recently as well and was very surprised and pleased at how nice it was. You'll probably see all new pictures up here since you last visited this page including the drawing of the reconstructed image of the Gokuraku Bridge and gate.

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SuupaahiirooAshigaru

93 months ago

Score 0

I enjoyed this castle site immensely. The ishigaki are impressive and the reconstructed yagura are very nicely done. I personally think the train line makes for an interesting juxtaposition and good photo opportunities, but I can understand other people don't like it. The observation platform at the tenshukakudai seems to be almost finished. There are concrete plans to rebuild one of the bridges. They received a donation of 300 million yen to build it and plan to finish by 2020, in time for the Olympics (source: http://maini.../040/433000c). Take a look at the sign I photographed, it includes an artist's impression (I hope the reconstruction includes the gate as well!). http://imgur.com/a/2mIKm

Rent a bicycle at Yamato-Saidaiji station and visit Unesco World Heritage sites Yakushi-ji and Tōshōdai-ji along the way tp the castle. It makes for very nice daytrip.

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Anonymous user #1

98 months ago

Score 0

Administrative building on the grounds of the castle actually is former Public Library of the Nara Prefecture and was erected in 1908

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ARTShogun

103 months ago

Score 0

Little paths take you around the moats. Blossoming trees make the yagura more photogenic. From April you may access the tenshukakudai. The view from thEre should be good. The otemon has a pottery exhibit and the yagura and wall corridor are a photo gallery. I only had eyes for the castle though. The nearby building, built in the meiji or taisho is actually where the committee to rebuild the castle operate from. They have a model of the castle in Edo and lots of leaflets. Visit them and say you wish to learn about the castle.

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RaymondWDaimyo

151 months ago

Score 0

I went to this castle again today. It's the first time that I have been to Yamato-Koriyama Castle outside of the winter months. This place gets overgrown pretty quickly for some of its moats and stone walls. There are lots of cherry trees here, but they have since shed their pink blossoms for lots of green leaves, so the leaves also pretty much prevent a clear view of the ishigaki, particularly the tenshudai (stone base of the former castle keep). However, the trip to this castle ruin was just a warm-up for the arvo trip to Kizu, Kyoto to suss out Kaseyama Castle Ruin, a mountaintop castle that slips under the radar of most Japanese castle and castle ruin books. It is easy to visit both Koriyama Castle and Kaseyama Castle in one day as JR Koriyama and Kizu Stations are only around 15 minutes apart.

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RaymondWDaimyo

165 months ago

Score 0

I went to Yamato-Koriyama Castle again today. The inside of the main gate (Outemon) and the turret (Outemukai Yagura) that you see in the first photo are definitely wooden reconstructions. They are open to the public until 11th March when the Bonsai Plum Blossom Exhibition ends. I think it is the 8th one, so they may have one of these exhibition every year.

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RaymondWDaimyo

166 months ago

Score 0

As Furinkazan commented below, the ishigaki of Japanese castles can be (and often are) overgrown with weeds and undergrowth during the warmer months of the year. My visits to this castle has always been in the winter, so no problem with any plant growth obstructing a clear view of all the stonework. BTW, I was at this castle earlier in the week. There is going to be a plum blossom bonsai exhibition here from 5th February to 11th March, 2011. During that time, the interior of the main gate and the turrets will be open to the public. Entry is 450 yen. 9:30 - 4:30 weekdays and 9:30 - 5:00 weekends and public holidays. I will be going back to suss out the interior which is usually closed to the public. I had a closer look at the reconstruction of the yaguras from the outside, and I reckon they are probably rebuilt from wood and not the horrible ferroconcrete stuff.

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RaymondWDaimyo

166 months ago

Score 0

There aren't many reconstructed fortifications at this castle ruin site, but the ishigaki, dry and water moats are pretty nice. The castle is also concentrically ringed by moats. Unfortunately, the Kintetsu train line runs right through one of the baileys of this castle ruin. Access is very easy from Kintetsu Koriyama Station, almost an hour by train from Kyoto Station if you take the ones with limited stops. There are also lots of cherry trees here, so it will be quite pretty during cherry blossom season.

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FurinkazanDaimyo

170 months ago

Score 0

I　got　to this castle today. There is not a lot to see apart from the 2 yagura and the gate. The walls of the baileys are covered with brush and trees. I　encountered a group making a film. They took　a picture of me surrounded by a samurai and a shinobi.

I would not go to this castle if i was not in Nara for 2 days(4min with the local train).

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