Shibata Castle Ruins

Shibata, Japan, Japan

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Shibata Castle Ruins are the remains of an Edo-period flatland castle in the center of the modern city of Shibata in Niigata Prefecture, northern Japan, originally built on a site used by the local Shibata clan during the Muromachi period and then reconstructed in 1598–1654 as the seat of the Mizoguchi daimyō of Shibata Domain.

The castle was famous for its unusual three-story keep with a T-shaped roof decorated by three shachihoko (tiger-headed carp) and for its Namako-style walls, a traditional plaster-and-stone pattern common in snowy regions, and it survived into the 19th century with multiple gates, corner turrets, and a moat system that is still largely intact.

After the Meiji Restoration, the site became Camp Shibata for the Japanese army, much of the castle was demolished, and today the outer and much of the inner bailey are occupied by a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force base with restricted access, while the remaining historic area is preserved as Shibata Castle Ruins Park, a public park with surviving moats, the main gate (Omotemon), one corner turret (Ninomaru Sumi Yagura), and reconstructed Tatsumi and three-story keeps, and the site is listed among the 100 Fine Castles of Japan and especially popular for cherry blossoms and lantern-lit night views in spring.