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Viewer Comments

• a22cricket    June 14, 2011 at 11:50 PM
  

  RaymondW, went to the museums nearby. They were great. I'm surprised this area doesn't get more attention from tourists.

• RaymondW    June 11, 2011 at 03:53 PM
  

  a22cricket, did you go to the Azuchi Castle Museum just across from JR Azuchi Station? The staff is pretty helpful there, and you can pick up an info pack about Azuchi Castle (in Japanese only) for 200 yen. Within the pack is a small map of Kannonji Castle, too.

• a22cricket    June 05, 2011 at 11:38 PM
  

  Spent June 5th, 2011 here for the Oda Nobunaga festival. It's held on the first Sunday every June and the town puts on a parade, arquebus demonstrations, feasts, tea ceremony, etc., etc. Fun weekend and still a great trip. One of the best sites on Lake Biwa.

• a22cricket on My Page    May 16, 2011 at 06:52 PM
  

  Read "Taiko" by Eiji Yoshikawa which is about castle warfare and Hideyoshi Toyotomi and saw a lot of references to Azuchi. Great ruins and museums. The book is great as well although not as good as Yoshikawa's "Musashi".

• thomasV    March 25, 2011 at 06:28 PM
  

  Currently writing my master's dissertation about Azuchi Castle. It's fascinating to trace down it's history and the people who helped with the construction. Top class castle!

• RaymondW on My Page    March 01, 2011 at 08:58 PM
  

  I went to Azuchi Castle Ruin first before making it over to Kannonji Castle Ruin on the last weekend of February. This is my fourth visit to this castle ruin, so I decided just to ride around the base of the hill and suss out the parts that I have not seen nor are regularly visited. If you are going to rent a bicycle, ride around the area a little, and you will see some of the canals lined with ishigaki created in the days of Oda Nobunaga. Also, go past the big Azuchi Castle sign on the main road heading towards Hikone. First, you will see the remnants of some kind of water moat (more like a pond now) and a bit of ishigaki. Go a bit further, and you will see an open space and a set of steps leading into the bush. Go up the steps, and you will find some ishigaki of some of the lower eastern baileys. They are heavily overgrown with bamboo and other trees.

• Kris    February 04, 2011 at 11:45 PM
  

  Thanks to [Go] other networks are doing documentaries on Sengoku Jidai again. (Hooray) One over-acted scene finally explained to me that the spelling 「天主 tenshu」not 「天守tenshu」was first used by Nobunaga in reference to Azuchi-jo. (And hence why certain parties thought Nobunaga's ambition needed to be checked). I should have really understood this earlier. Oh well, I'm a novice.

• Alamo6400    January 07, 2011 at 11:16 AM
  

  I love azuchi castle because it is ruled by one of my favorite daimyo oda nobunaga it is rated 1 on my account because azuchi castle shows the power of the oda clan and oda nobunaga azuchi castle is built on omi province shiga prefecture there is another castle in omi province odani castle .odani castle was ruled by old and dead by that time azai nagamasa died at the battle of anegawa

• Kris on My Page    October 26, 2010 at 01:12 AM
  

  Azuchi-jo has some first class ishigaki; these ruins are spectacular. The site was very well maintained – they charge admission. When I went it was beautiful and green; I stood in the middle of a manicured forest and had flashbacks of my brother playing Zelda. ^^;; These ruins have a definite presence about them. The 100meijo stamp is available on request at the ticket office. I rented a bicycle and went to the Nobunaga-kan and Kannonji after getting lost. The reconstruction in the Nobunagakan is definitely worth seeing. The same weekend I also went to Mie Azuchi-jo too – 3 Azuchi-jos in one week; I'm some kind of Nobunaga stalker. You can get free tickets with the Kintetsu rail pass. I didn't see the shows but it was a good chance to take silly photos, (job interview for teppo ashigaru), and the mannequins have the scariest angry eyes I've seen anywhere.

• Kris    October 26, 2010 at 01:05 AM
  

  Azuchi-jo has some first class ishigaki; these ruins are spectacular. The site was very well maintained – they charge admission. When I went it was beautiful and green; I stood in the middle of a manicured forest and had flashbacks of my brother playing Zelda. ^^;; These ruins have a definite presence about them. The 100meijo stamp is available on request at the ticket office. I rented a bicycle and went to the Nobunaga-kan and Kannonji after getting lost. The reconstruction in the Nobunagakan is definitely worth seeing.

• furinkazan    October 21, 2010 at 07:43 PM
  

  Actually i didn't went to this castleruins, but several days earlier i was at the Ise Azuchi-Momoyama Bunka mura, aka. Ise Wonderland. This is a recreational parc and it has a reconstruction in concrete of the Azuchicastle. The entrance to the parc is 2500yen and 500yen more to enter the castle. In the castle are some puppets recreating some of the important stages of Oda Nobunaga's life. You may pay also 3900yen to access everything, as well as the theaters. I assisted to one of them, but everything is in japanese.

• John    June 21, 2010 at 06:22 AM
  

  Hmm... octagonal 6th floor on the donjon, you say. Must have been an unsuccessful expirement as it was never repeated.

• Admin    March 25, 2010 at 01:52 PM
  

  No, I really need to. it's on my to-do list. Maybe when the new video rental store opens up down my street...

• Arip    March 22, 2010 at 12:15 PM
  

  Have you watched the Katen No Shiro Movie? It's the story of Azuchi Castle construction process.. You can download it at http://aezone.net

• Anonymous    March 09, 2009 at 08:18 AM
  

  Lisa,I don't know where you are now. I went to and stayed at Hkone with my wife on Feb 15. The hotel we stayed was faced to the castle moat. The staffs are kind. You can visit Azuchi ruins within 30 minutes by local train. Have a nice tour! Kai,Kitakyushu-city

• Anonymous    January 27, 2009 at 04:26 AM
  

  This castle is very interesting

• webmaster    November 23, 2008 at 11:51 AM
  

  Agreed. Look for hotels in Hikone. There should be several hotels with English websites and it's just a couple stops away by train. You can visit Hikone Castle too and there is a variety of things to do in Hikone too.

• Raymond    November 22, 2008 at 08:18 AM
  

  Lisa, I am not the guy who runs this wonderful website, but I live in Shiga and have been to Azuchi Castle Ruins a couple of times. There isn't much around JR Azuchi Station. Your best bet for finding a hotel would be in Kusatsu, Hikone, or perhaps Omi-hachiman, one station from Azuchi. The first two places, which are also on the same JR line, are around 15 to 20 minutes from Azuchi. Why not stay in Hikone City and visit both Hikone Castle (an original castle) and Azuchi Castle Ruins? My two yens' worth.

• Lisa    November 22, 2008 at 04:46 AM
  

  I don't know if anyone is still updating this site but if so i need to know what hotels are nearby to this castle. My research brings up sites that i can't read and the information is required for a class project. Any help?

• austin Lewis    October 14, 2008 at 10:41 PM
  

  whoa!!!! really!!!! dude i'm REALLY jelous he's my heroe

• Tommy Jackson    June 18, 2008 at 12:08 PM
  

  i have yet to go here , i really want to though. Oda Nobunaga was my ancestor on my grandma's dad's side of the family