Kawate Castle

Gifu, Japan, Japan

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Kawate Castle was a medieval flatland castle in what is now the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, built in 1353 by Toki Yoriyasu as the new main base of the Toki clan, who were the military governors (shugo) of Mino Province.

It replaced the smaller and less defensible Nagamori Castle nearby and, for much of the 14th and 15th centuries, served as the principal seat of the Toki rulers before they were eventually displaced by the Saitō clan in the 16th century. The castle’s original wooden structures and most of its earthworks were dismantled or covered over in later centuries.

Today the site is largely lost under modern development, with no prominent surviving buildings or open park ruins comparable to the more famous Gifu Castle on Mount Kinka, though the area is still recognized as the location of this important early Sengoku stronghold of Mino.