Imabari Castle

Imabari Castle (今治城, Imabari-jō) is a Japanese castle in Imabari, Ehime, Japan. This castle is well known as one of the three Mizujiro, or "Castles on the sea", in Japan, along with Takamatsu Castle in Kagawa Prefecture and Nakatsu Castle in Oita Prefecture.^[1]

History

This castle was constructed by Tōdō Takatora, a local daimyo. He collected superior knowledge and techniques for building castles from 1602 to 1604 in order to build his own castle. The original major castle to rule the area was Kokufu Castle located on the top of Mount Karako. However, Takatora thought the Kokufu Castle was not in the best place for the governance of the area, so he abolished the old castle and made a new one, Imabari Castle.

In 1635, this castle and Imabari Domain was succeeded by Matsudaira Sadafusa who is nephew of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After that, he and his descendants ruled there for Edo period.

Imabari Castle is in the center right.

By the order of the Meiji Government, all of the buildings associated with the castle were destroyed. And land ownership was sold to local Shinto shrine. In 1980, the Imabari City government constructed the new donjon tower in the castle.

Features

Imabari castle features a vast seawater moat, a high stone wall and a rare style of main gate.　The moat averages 60 meters in length and is intended to neutralize arrows.　Almost all parts of the high stone wall have remain unchanged since the Edo Period. The main gate, Kurogane Main Gate (鉄御門, Kurogane-gomon), is iron-plated and flanked by turrets.

Access

• Imabari Station of Yosan Line
• Imabari Port
• Imabari Castle (今治城前, Imabari-jō-mae) Bus Stop of Setouchi Bus Line

External links

Media related to Imabari Castle at Wikimedia Commons

References

Coordinates: 34°03′48″N 133°00′25″E / 34.063336°N 133.006806°E / 34.063336; 133.006806

100 Fine Castles of Japan by region
Hokkaidō	Nemuro Peninsula Chashiato Goryōkaku Matsumae
Tōhoku	Hirosaki Ne Morioka Sendai Taga Kubota Yamagata Nihonmatsu Aizuwakamatsu Komine
Kantō	Mito Banna-ji Minowa Kanayama Hachigata Kawagoe Sakura Edo Hachiōji Odawara Tsutsujigasaki Kōfu Matsushiro Ueda Komoro Matsumoto Takatō Shibata Kasugayama
Chūbu	Takaoka Nanao Kanazawa Maruoka Ichijōdani Iwamura Gifu Yamanaka Sunpu Kakegawa Inuyama Nagoya Okazaki Nagashino Iga Ueno Matsuzaka
Kansai	Odani Hikone Azuchi Kannonji Nijō Osaka Chihaya Takeda Sasayama Akashi Himeji Akō Takatori Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori Matsue Gassantoda Tsuwano Tsuyama Bitchū Matsuyama Ki Okayama Fukuyama Yoshida-Kōriyama Hiroshima Iwakuni Hagi
Shikoku	Tokushima Takamatsu Marugame Imabari Matsuyama Yuzuki Ōzu Uwajima Kōchi
Kyūshūa	Fukuoka Ōno Nagoya Yoshinogari site Saga Hirado Shimabara Kumamoto Hitoyoshi Funai Oka Obi Kagoshima Nakijin Nakagusuku Shuri
a including Okinawa.