Koriyama Castle Ruins

Yamatokoriyama, Japan, Japan

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Koriyama Castle Ruins are the remains of a large flatland castle in the city of Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, one of the most famous flat-style castles in the Kansai region and now a National Historic Site.

Construction was begun in 1580 by the local Sengoku daimyō Tsutsui Junkei, and after Junkei’s death the castle was taken over by Toyotomi Hidenaga, younger brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who greatly expanded it and made it his main residence, adding three concentric moats and massive stone walls that became the core of the castle complex.

During the Edo period the site became the headquarters of Kōriyama Domain and was successively ruled by clans such as the Mizuno, Matsudaira, Honda, and Yanagisawa, but like most castles it was largely demolished in the Meiji era, so no original main keep survives today; what remain are the well-preserved inner moats, extensive stone walls (some ingeniously built using gravestones and a hidden statue of the bodhisattva Jizō), and grounds now laid out as Kōriyama Castle Park with walking paths and reconstructed gate and tower structures.