Hirado Castle

Hirado, Japan, Japan

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Hirado Castle (also called Kameoka Castle) is a historic site on a hill overlooking Hirado Port and the Hirado Strait in Hirado City, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, and it was originally part of the coastal defenses erected during Japan’s period of national seclusion.

The first castle on the site, Hinodake Castle, was built in 1599 by the warlord Matsura Shigenobu, but it was deliberately destroyed in 1613 as a gesture of loyalty after the Matsura clan sided with the losing faction in the Battle of Sekigahara. The clan continued to rule the Hirado Domain for over 270 years, and a new, more permanent castle was constructed on the present site starting.

1704 under the 30th head of the clan, Matsumura Takashi, and completed in 1718 by the 31st head, Atsunobu, with design influence from the military strategist Yamaga Sōkō. The original main keep and many towers were dismantled during the Meiji Restoration, and today the site preserves only a small number of original structures, including the Kitakoguchi Gate and one turret, Tanuki Yagura, while the current five-story main keep is a ferro-concrete reconstruction built in the 1960s along with four recreated turrets.

The keep is open to visitors as a museum on the history of Hirado, the Matsura clan, and early foreign trade through Hirado, and its upper floor offers panoramic views of the port, the strait, and nearby islands. One of the original turrets, Kaiju Yagura, has been renovated and converted into a luxury lodging facility, allowing guests to stay inside a historic samurai structure with a modern design.