Kumamoto Castle

One of the three great castles along with Nagoya Castle and Osaka Castle and one of the

100 best places in Japan to view cherry blossoms. The current castle was built in 1601 by

Kiyomasa Kato, a great commander and took 7 years to complete. The 980,000-square-meter

premises are dotted with many memorable view such as donjons, turrets, turret gates, castle 

gates and long fences.

This castle is particularly famous for its beautiful curving stonewall called “Musha-gaeshi, which

were built to defend against invading armies. The stone walls have been designated a National

Historic Site and 12 buildings in addition to the Uto-yagura turret have been designated National

Treasure.

Kumamoto Castle after the Earthquakes, the photos were taken on May 18, 2019.

Suddenly, without any prediction, the series of Earthquakes including magnitude 7.0 main

shock which struck in April 2016 beneath Kumamoto-city.  Then severe damages occurred

Kumamoto prefecture including Kumamoto Castle.

Kumamoto Castle sustained damage to its roof and exterior buildings and walls because 

of the earthquakes and associated aftershocks.  Several of the castle’s shachihoko 

ornaments were destroyed, and a large number of kawara tiles also fell from the roof.

Now the restoration activities are being performed as fast as possible.

Now, the Kumamoto Castle can be seen from the outside of the moats surrounding the castle.