Jcastle.info

Guide to Japanese Castles

Hikone Castle

彦根城

donjon front
←      →
Founder Ii Naomasa
Year 1603
Type Hilltop
Structure 3 levels, 3 stories
Condition Original
Admin's Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Historical Site Special Historic Site
Historical Value Top 100 Castles, National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties
Historical Artifacts National Treasures:
tenshu, Tsukiyagura, Tamon Yagura

Important Cultural Properties:
Tenbin Yagura, Taiko Gate and Tsuzuki Yagura, Nishinomaru 3 level yagura and tsuzukiyagura, umaya, Ninomaru Sawaguchi Tamon Yagura
Location Hikone, Shiga Prefecture
Map Google Map
Access Hikone Station (Tokaido Honsen), walk 15 minutes
Website Hikone City Website
Visited April 1996, February 21, 2004
Notes A beautiful castle inside and out with many small interesting points here and there. Take your time to explore and enjoy it. Don't miss the various yagura and gates in a rush to get to the main donjon. With the reconstructed lord's palace and the original gardens on teh grounds of this castle, in some ways it demonstrates what a castle was really like even more so than Himeji Castle.
History

For his participation in the Battle of Sekigahara, Ii Naomasa was awardded Sawayama castle and surrounding lands. Due to its inconvenient locationa and poor condition, he soon started planning for a new castle on a new location that would become Hikone Castle.

Unfortunately, Naomasa died soon after and the castle was actually begun under his son Naotsugu. It took 20 years and was completed under Naotsugu's brother Naotaka who had become lord of the castle in 1615.

The donjon of Hikone-jo is famous for having used several types of gables and construction techniques to make it well fortified. The donjon and connected yagura are designated National Treasures.

I find it amazing that the ii family magaed to maintain their rule over Hikone Castle over 250 from the beginning of the Edo Period until the Meiji restoration.

Photo Tags

Viewer Comments

(4) | Post Comment
  • Raymond W    February 22, 2010 at 03:58 PM
    Just got back to Hikone Castle. I'm pretty lucky that I live in Shiga as Hikone Station is only 40 minutes away by JR train (about an hour from Kyoto JR Station.) Anyway, just a heads up for those who like combining castle visits with some photography. Genkyu-en (Genkyu Garden) is having some work done on it, so the pond is pretty much drained. That means you won't be able to get the nice postcard-like photo of the pond in the garden in foreground with Hikone Castle up on the hill. All you get in the foreground is mud and more mud. On a sign, it said the work being done on the garden is from 22nd December 2009 to 9th March 2010. Also, the Keyaki Goten (The Ii Family Residence), next to the Genkyu-en is being renovated. It is scheduled to finish on 19th March 2010. The castle and the reconstructed palace are fine. No worries there. For anyone thinking of a visit to Hikone Castle, go in the morning. There will be less people, and you have the sun behind you for taking piccies of the castle keep. One more thing, if you want to see a very detailed model (1:300 scale) of what Hikone Castle and the surrounding castle town looked like in Edo Period, go inside the Ninomaru Sawaguchitamon-Yagura (Sawaguchitamon Turret).It is opposite the main entrance to the castle and palace. The cherry blossoms are still around a month away, but there are a few plum blossoms beginning to happen. BTW, hanami time = circus. Go early at 8:30am to avoid the crowds. After 10am, it becomes like a rugby rolling maul trying to get into the castle keep. Same goes for Golden Week at the beginning of May.
  • Raymond    April 03, 2009 at 10:36 PM
    I went to Hikone Castle today. The cherry blossoms have started but they won't be at their best until the middle of next week. There were plenty of people today, but nothing like last Golden Week. A sign was out in the afternoon saying that it takes around 30 minutes waiting in the queue to get into the tenshukaku (keep). The delay is in getting up and down the very steep stairs in the keep.
  • MM    March 16, 2008 at 07:15 AM
    Hikonejo is a great place to go to, because it has both many original buildings, and a fine collection of artifacts in the museum.
  • Galileo's great great Grandson    February 12, 2008 at 10:25 PM
    Could you guys get more angles for the Castles? I was trying to build a model but didn't have enough veiws to get it perfect. It is my job to get things perfect. As you would know architects are usually perfectionists. I am incredibly reliant on these views to get ideas. Thank you for your time.