- Type
- Ruin
- Built
- 1576 · 16th century
- Location
- Shiga Prefecture, Japan
- Commissioned by
- Oda Nobunaga
- Visiting
- probably – Wikidata lists it as a museum or gives tickets, opening hours or visitor numbers; check before you go
- Coordinates
- 35.1560°, 136.1394°
History
Oda Nobunaga, then on his way to unifying Japan, began building a castle on Mount Azuchi by Lake Biwa in 1576. In 1579 he moved into the finished keep, a seven-storey tower lavishly decorated with Kanō school paintings, with gilded roofs and an octagonal floor. The castle set a new pattern for Japanese strongholds, with stone ramparts and a tall keep as a symbol of power. It stood for only a few years: in 1582, shortly after Nobunaga's death at the Honnō-ji temple, it burned down in unclear circumstances and was never rebuilt.
What to see
Broad stone steps of the old main road lead up the hill, with stone Buddha figures and gravestones built into them. On the way you pass the sites of Hideyoshi's residence and the Sōken-ji temple with its gate and three-storey pagoda, and at the top the stone foundations of the keep survive. In the nearby Nobunaga no Yakata museum you can see a reconstruction of the keep's two top floors.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q786888
Popularity: articles about this site in 29 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).