Sumpu Castle Park

Shizuoka, Japan, Japan

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Sumpu Castle Park (also called Sunpu Castle Park or Sunpu‑jo Koen) is an urban park in the center of Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, built on the former site of Sunpu Castle, a major feudal fortress originally constructed in 1585 and later known as the “castle of the floating island” because of its three nested moats.

The castle was the lifelong stronghold of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who lived there from childhood until age 18 and then returned to it for his final ten years, during which he acted as the first shōgun and effectively ruled Japan from this location, making Sunpu the de facto capital of the country in the early 17th century.

After the Meiji Restoration and abolition of the castle, the grounds were used as an army base and transformed into a public park in 1949; most of the original buildings were lost, but during the 1990s two historic turrets (Hitsujisaru Yagura and Tatsumi Yagura) and the East Gate (Higashi Gomon) were faithfully reconstructed to show how the castle looked 400 years ago, and ongoing archaeological work has exposed new stone wall sections and excavated remains that can be viewed through glass panels.