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.
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.