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Kokura Castle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kokura Castle
小倉城
Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan
Kokura Castle keep
Site information
Open to the public
yes
Location
Kokura Castle 小倉城 is located in Kitakyushu
Kokura Castle 小倉城
Kokura Castle
小倉城
Location within Kitakyushu
Kokura Castle 小倉城 is located in Fukuoka Prefecture
Kokura Castle 小倉城
Kokura Castle
小倉城
Location within Fukuoka Prefecture
Kokura Castle 小倉城 is located in Japan
Kokura Castle 小倉城
Kokura Castle
小倉城
Location within Japan
Coordinates33°53′04″N 130°52′27″E / 33.884444°N 130.874256°E / 33.884444; 130.874256
Site history
Built1608, rebuilt 1839, 1959
Kokura Castle from the nearby Japanese garden

Kokura Castle (Japanese: 小倉城, Hepburn: Kokura-jō) is a five-story castle in Kitakyushu, Japan.[1] A castle was first built at the current site in 1569. Construction of a more substantial replacement commenced in 1602 under the direction of daimyo Tadaoki Hosokawa.[2][3] As of 2021, Kokura Castle had the 6th tallest castle keep among existing Japanese castles.[4]

History

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The history of Kokura Castle dates back to 1569, when the Mōri clan built a castle at the current site. In 1602, following his participation in the Battle of Sekigahara, daimyo Tadaoki Hosokawa ordered the construction of a more substantial castle. Construction was completed in about seven years, and incorporated an entire castle town within its fortifications. The castle walls, which remain today in their original state, were assembled using the “rough stone stacking” method known as Nozura-zumi (野面積み).[5] At the time, it was the fifth-largest castle in Japan.[3]

After the Hosokawa clan relocated to Kumamoto, daimyo Tadazane Ogasawara took control of Kokura in 1632. The castle remained the property of the Ogasawara clan (from Harima) from1632 to the 1860s.[3] The castle burnt down from a fire in 1837, with portions of it (but not the keep) rebuilt in 1839.[2]

Kokura Castle was burnt down intentionally on August 1, 1866 by retreating Kokura troops during a battle fought against the Chōshū clan during the Second Chōshū expedition.[6][7] The Kokura troops managed to storm the remnants of the castle on September 9, 1866 and retrieved some documents and goods that had been left during the earlier retreat. However, the castle's symbolically significant drum had been seized by the Chōshū domain, and it was eventually taken to Itsukushima Shrine [ja] in Shimonoseki where it still resides.[8]

The keep was reconstructed in 1959, and the castle was fully restored in 1990. Matsumoto Seicho Memorial Museum and castle garden were opened in 1998.[9]

Location

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The castle is about a ten-minute walk from JR Kyushu's Kokura Station. The north side of the moat is next to the Riverwalk shopping complex (completed in 2003).

Attractions

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The castle keep contains a modern folkloric museum and admission is charged to the keep, garden and Matsumoto Seicho Memorial Museum.

The keep is not a fully accurate reconstruction. In particular, when it was reconstructed in 1959, the designers chose to use gables that did not exist when the keep had originally been constructed.[10]

Kokura Castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.[11]

An old Japanese-style pre-Brunton lighthouse replica (of the original Shirasu Lighthouse (白州灯台)) is on the castle grounds.[12]


Literature

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  • Benesch, Oleg and Ran Zwigenberg (2019). Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 374. ISBN 9781108481946.

References

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  1. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第44話　お城の「天守」の四つの分類を解説". Retrieved 2026-07-25.
  2. 1 2 "Jcastle: Kokura Castle". Archived from the original on 2013-09-24. Retrieved 2013-02-18.
  3. 1 2 3 "History of Kokura Castle". Retrieved 2026-07-19.
  4. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第45話　全国でも有数の広さを誇る小倉城の天守". Retrieved 2026-07-21.
  5. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第43話　城の石垣の積み方を紹介。小倉城の石垣はどんな積み方？". Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  6. ↑ "Kokura Castle History". Retrieved 2020-10-21.
  7. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第17話　小倉戦争と小倉城自焼". Retrieved 2026-07-19.
  8. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第18話　小倉城、太鼓を奪われる". Retrieved 2026-07-19.
  9. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第59話　庭園として長い歴史を刻む「小倉城庭園」". Retrieved 2026-07-26.
  10. ↑ "Episode 57: The Story of the Reconstruction of the Castle Tower". Retrieved 2026-04-14.
  11. ↑ "続日本100名城" (in Japanese). 日本城郭協会. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  12. ↑ 成重 敏夫. "第52話　私財を投じ白洲灯台の建設に尽力した岩松助左衛門". Retrieved 2026-07-26.

See also

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