Nagoya Castle

About this place

Nagoya Castle is the castle of Nagoya, Japan's fourth-largest city, in Aichi Prefecture, about 2 km north of Nagoya Station and 266 km west of Tokyo in a straight line. The golden sea creatures on its roof, the shachihoko, became a symbol of the city. Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the castle built in 1609 on the site of an earlier Oda clan castle, and it was completed by 1612 for the Owari branch, the senior of the three Tokugawa family lines; it later passed to the city. The present keep is a concrete reconstruction of 1959, and it has been closed to visitors since 2018 while the city prepares to rebuild it in wood. The Honmaru Palace, the lord's residence, was rebuilt using traditional methods and fully reopened in 2018. The tall white keep with green copper roofs rises above massive stone walls and moats, crowned by its gleaming golden shachihoko. Inside the palace, rooms of pale cypress wood are lined with sliding doors painted in gold leaf with tigers, pines and flowers. The palace, grounds, gardens and stone walls are open to visitors, with seasonal events. Cherry trees fill the grounds in early April. Kinshachi Yokocho, a food street beside the gates, serves local dishes such as miso katsu.