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In February 2006, the Japan Castle Foundation released a list of the Top 100 castles in Japan. Selection was based on (1) important cultural or historical artifacts (2) the setting for important historical events and (3) representative castles from each historical period and region. Furthermore, there is at least one castle from each prefecture, but no more than 5.

The castles included on this site are linked below. There is also a new browsing criteria in the Castle Browser under "Historical Importance" for Top 100 Listed and you can view a Google Map of the same castles.

Region/Prefecture Castles
Hokkaido • Tohoku
Hokkaido Nemuro Peninsula Chashi  •  Goryokaku  •  Matsumae Castle
Aomori Hirosaki Castle  •  Ne Castle
Iwate Morioka Castle
Miyagi Sendai Castle  •  Taga Castle
Akita Kubota Castle
Yamagata Yamagata Castle
Fukushima Nihonmatsu Castle  •  Aizu Wakamatsu Castle  •  Shirakawa Castle
Kanto • Koshin'etsu
Ibaraki Mito Castle
Tochigi Ashikaga-shi Yakata (Banna-ji)
Gunma Minowa Castle  •  Kanayama Castle
Saitama Hachigata Castle  •  Kawagoe Castle
Chiba Sakura Castle
Tokyo Edo Castle  •  Hachioiji Castle
Kanagawa Odawara Castle
Niigata Shibata Castle  •  Kasugayama Castle
Yamanashi Kofu Castle  •  Takeda-shi Yakata (Takeda Jinja)
Nagano Matsushiro Castle  •  Ueda Castle  •  Komoro Castle  •  Matsumoto Castle  •  Takato Castle
Hokuriku • Tokai
Toyama Takaoka Castle
Ishikawa Nanao Castle  •  Kanazawa Castle
Fukui Maruoka Castle  •  Ichijodani Castle
Gifu Iwamura Castle  •  Gifu Castle
Shizuoka Yamanaka Castle  •  Sunpu Castle  •  Kakegawa Castle
Aichi Inuyama Castle  •  Nagoya Castle  •  Okazaki Castle  •  Nagashino Castle
Mie Iga Ueno Castle  •  Matsusaka Castle
Kinki
Shiga Odani Castle  •  Hikone Castle  •  Azuchi Castle  •  Kannonji Castle
Kyoto Nijo Castle
Osaka Osaka Castle  •  Chihaya Castle
Hyogo Takeda Castle  •   Sasayama Castle  •   Akashi Castle  •   Himeji Castle  •   Ako Castle
Nara Takatori Castle
Wakayama Wakayama Castle
Chugoku • Shikoku
Tottori Tottori Castle
Shimane Matsue Castle  •  Gassan Toda Castle  •  Tsuwano Castle
Okayama Tsuyama Castle  •  Bitchu Matsuyama Castle  •  Kinojo  •  Okayama Castle
Hiroshima Fukuyama Castle  •  Koriyama Castle  •  Hiroshima Castle
Yamaguchi Iwakuni Castle  •  Hagi Castle
Tokushima Tokushima Castle
Kagawa Takamatsu Castle  •  Marugame Castle
Ehime Imabari Castle  •  Matsuyama Castle  •  Yuzuki Castle  •  Ozu Castle  •  Uwajima Castle
Kochi Kochi Castle
Kyushu • Okinawa
Fukuoka Fukuoka Castle  •  Ono Castle
Saga Nagoya Castle Castle  •  Yoshinogari Castle  •  Saga Castle
Nagasaki Hirado Castle  •  Shimabara Castle
Kumamoto Kumamoto Castle  •  Hitoshi Castle
Oita Oita Castle  •  Oka Castle
Miyazaki Obi Castle
Kagoshima Kagoshima Castle
Okinawa Nakijin Castle  •  Naka Castle  •  Shuri Castle

A name in parentheses above is the name of the temple that now stands on the castle site. Prefectures and castles within each prefecture are roughly ordered from North to South and East to West.