Nagoya Castle Ruins

Karatsu, Japan, Japan

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Nagoya Castle Ruins (Hizen-Nagoya Castle) in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, are the remains of a massive late‑16th‑century “phantom castle” built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a forward base for the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), located on a hill on the Higashi Matsuura Peninsula about 10 km north of Karatsu city.

At its peak, Nagoya Castle was second only to Osaka Castle in size, with a total area of about 170,000 square meters, and it briefly became a huge military encampment where more than 130 famous generals, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, Date Masamune, Maeda Toshiie, and Katō Kiyomasa, gathered under Hideyoshi’s orders to prepare troops for deployment to Korea.

The castle was abandoned within seven years after Hideyoshi’s death and never rebuilt, leaving today only extensive stone walls, terraces, moats, and the ruins of the generals’ encampments scattered over the grounds, which are designated a Special Historic Site and preserved as Nagoya Castle Ruins Park. 

Visitors can explore the site on foot, learn about the castle and the broader history of Japan–Korea relations at the adjacent Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum (open 9:00 to 17:00, free entry on weekdays), and enjoy seasonal attractions such as cherry blossoms in spring and views toward Iki and Tsushima islands from the old keep’s summit, while nearby Karatsu Castle was later built using leftover materials from Nagoya and is linked historically to this phantom castle.