Takamatsu Castle Park

Takamatsu, Japan, Japan

---

Takamatsu Castle Park, also known as Tamamo Park, is the historic site of Takamatsu Castle (Tamamo Castle) in central Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, on Shikoku Island, Japan, and is famous as one of the three great “water castles” of Japan because its moats are filled directly with seawater from the nearby Seto Inland Sea.

The castle was built in 1588 as the headquarters of the Takamatsu Domain, which ruled the eastern part of Sanuki Province from 1588 to 1869, and was a large, flatland sea‑castle with a network of wide moats, stone walls, and turrets, but most of its wooden buildings were lost over time and after the Meiji Restoration, and today only stone foundations, moats, and some restored turrets remain.

The park is open as a public space with a low admission fee for the main grounds and turrets, and is accessible on about a 3‑minute walk from JR Takamatsu Station, with the West Gate open from sunrise to sunset and the East Gate and exhibition area open from 8:30 to several o’clock in the evening, depending on the month, and closed on December 29–31.