Alternate Name | Hikuma-jo |
Founder | Tokugawa Ieyasu |
Year | 1570 |
Reconstructed | 1958 (concrete) |
Type | Flatland-Mountain |
Structure | 3 levels, 3 stories |
Artifacts | stone foundation |
Location | Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture |
Map | Google Map |
Access | Hamamatsu Station (Tokaido Honsen), 15-20 walk, or short bus ride |
Website | Hamamatsu City |
Visited | May 1999 |
Notes | The castle is in a quiet little park a short bus ride from the station. I visited this castle on one trip from Fukushima to Nagoya. On the same day I also stopped at Odawara and Kakegawa before going to Hamamatsu. |
History | A castle was first built on this site around 1532 by a vassal of the Imagawa clan. This castle was called Hikuma-jo. In 1568 Tokugawa Ieyasu conquered the castle and in 1570 he moved his permanent headquarters here from Okazaki-jo . In 1577 Tokugawa renovated and expanded the castle, renaming it Hamamatsu-jo. Ieyasu spent 17 years here and engaged in some of his most well known battles from this castle. While the donjon of Hamamatsu-jo is a reconstruction, the stone palisade it stands on is the original one built by Tokugawa Ieyasu. This palisade is built in an old style called nozura-zumi which refers to the way the stones are fit together. |