Nagashino Castle Ruins

Shinshiro, Japan, Japan

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The Nagashino Castle Ruins in Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture, are the remains of a Sengoku-period flatland castle built in 1508 that is famous as the site of the decisive 1575 Battle of Nagashino, where the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga defeated Takeda Katsuyori using large numbers of arquebusiers, marking a turning point in samurai warfare and beginning the decline of the Takeda clan.

The castle was abandoned in 1576 and replaced by nearby Shinshiro Castle, and its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1929, the first former castle site in Japan to receive such protection. Today, almost nothing of the original structures survives except for remnants of moats, scattered stonework, and a huge clay wall about ten meters high that once surrounded the inner bailey, set in a quiet, park-like area beside the river and surrounded by trees.

The site is open year-round, with a 15-minute walk from JR Iida Line Nagashinojō Station, and includes the Nagashino Castle Ruins Museum, which displays excavated artifacts and explains the castle’s layout and its role in the battle, with admission fees of around 220 yen for adults and 110 yen for students. In 2006, the site was listed as one of the 100 Fine Castles of Japan, offering visitors a straightforward and historically rich experience without the need to climb a mountain or see a large reconstructed complex.