Yatsushiro Castle

Yatsushiro Castle (八代城, Yatsushiro-jō) is the remains of a castle structure in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.

In 1619, Mugishima Castle collapsed due to a large earthquake then Katō Kiyomasa's son Kato Tadahiro ordered his vassal Katō Masataka to build a new castle. In 1632, Hosokawa Tadaoki entered the castle by the Tokugawa shogunate's order and spent retired life in the kitanomaru compound of the castle.

The castle is now only ruins, just some remnants of water moats and stone walls. Yatsushiro Castle was registered as a National Historic Site in 2014 as one of the Remains of Yatsushiro Castles, combining both Furufumoto Castle and Mugishima Castle. Yatsushiro castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.

Text adapted from “Yatsushiro Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Yatsushiro Castle ranks #3,138 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #162 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1622, it is older than 31% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 16,517 times in the last 60 days, more than 96% of the atlas. The nearest day-trip guide is Kumamoto, 34 km away. It is one of the 37 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Kyushu. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗