Ii
Hikone Castle
彦根城
| Founder | Ii Naomasa |
| Year | 1603 |
| Type | Hilltop |
| Structure | 3 levels, 3 stories |
| Condition | Original |
| 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. |
Viewer Comments
(2) | Post CommentHikonejo is a great place to go to, because it has both many original buildings, and a fine collection of artifacts in the museum.
March 15, 2008 at 10:15 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.
February 12, 2008 at 01:25 PM