Kitsuki Castle

Kitsuki, Japan, Japan

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Kitsuki Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle located on a 30‑meter plateau overlooking Morie Bay in the city of Kitsuki, Ōita Prefecture, on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Kyushu, and is widely known as the smallest castle in Japan.

Originally built in 1394 by the daimyo Kitsuki Yorinao, the castle was later controlled by powerful families such as the Hosokawa and then the Matsudaira, who ruled the area until the Meiji Restoration; its main keep burned after a lightning strike in 1608 and was never rebuilt, so the present three‑story structure is a concrete replica constructed in 1970 that now houses a small museum.

The castle has several nicknames: “cow on its stomach” (Gagyū‑jō) because the surrounding landscape resembles a resting cow, and “castle of victory” (Katsuyama‑jō) after a failed siege by the Shimizu clan, and it is one of the features of the well‑preserved Edo‑period “castle town” of Kitsuki, where cobblestone streets, earthen walls, stone fences, and thatched‑roof samurai residences create an atmosphere much like the 17th to 19th centuries.

The castle’s ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2020, and visitors can walk from the nearby bus terminal or JR Kitsuki Station to reach the site, which offers clear views of the sea and the traditional town laid out below.