Nagoya Castle

Nagoya Castle in all its glory

Nagoya Castle is a flatland castle built by the Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa. It is a wooden structure built on huge stone walls. All of the shogun’s feudal lords were ordered to help with the construction of the castle. If you look at the giant stones in the castle’s walls, you can see the marks of the different lords carved into them from way back in 1609.

The Crest of the Shogun

Castle wall stones showing the mark of the feudal lord who donated them.

The castle was surrounded by a moat and it’s turrets were built with bay window projections which overhung the stone walls so that rocks could be dropped on attackers.

Castle walls and dry moat

Entrance to Honmaru Palace

The castle includes Honmaru Palace which was the home of the Shogun when he was at the castle. The palace was made from honeki cypress (which is a very fragrant wood and has a beautiful light color) and had painted walls, ceilings and sliding doors.

Male and female tigers!

A tiger “family”

A funny story is the fact that some of the wall paintings were of tigers. I asked why they would paint tigers since there are no tigers in Japan. The guide told me that the artists had seen paintings of tigers in China and copied them, but had mistakenly thought the cheetah was the female tiger and had painted the tiger and cheetah together with a cub, like a family!

Only natural national monument in Nagoya, a Japanese nutmeg tree that is 600 years old.

On the grounds of the castle there is also the only natural national monument in Nagoya, a kaya-nu-ki or Japanese nutmeg tree. It is 600 years old and it is said that the shogun decorated his dinner plate with nuts from this tree on the night before he would go into battle.

Ancient battle

Posing on the Golden Dolphin

Linda and the Golden Dolphin

One of the most famous things at Nagoya Castle are the Kinshachi or Golden Dolphins, a male and a female. They are covered in 18 carat gold and are situated on the highest rooftop of the castle with smaller ones on some of the other buildings. They were thought to be talismans against fire. This did not help the castle during World War II when it was firebombed by the US Army and destroyed.

The bombings of the Castle during World War II by the U.S. Army Air Forces destroyed Nagoya Castle in 1945. (Photo from Wikipedia article)

Nagoya Castle

Luckily, many of the paintings and objects of art were put into storage as the war got closer and closer to Japan. Many of these items are being used in the reconstruction of the castle and palace or can be seen at the Tokugawa Museum of Art. The reconstruction of the castle is scheduled to be done in 2018.

Working hard in the hard hat area

Don lends a hand moving the blocks of stone for the shogun

Construction site of a castle guard tower

Construction of a guard tower

Nagoya Castle is a magnificent structure that looms over the area where it is sits. It is in the center of a huge park which includes other buildings such as a tea house. When you see the reproduction of the castle grounds and its surrounding area, you definitely know that the Big Guy in Town lived there! Where the castle stands, it is the highest structure around. In modern times, it is dwarfed by the downtown skyscrapers but it is alone in the center of the park so it appears as it did when it was first built, the highest structure in the area.

One of the fun things at Nagoya Castle is Rent-A-Shogun. These young guys are cool and ready to perform at your party or other occasion. They graciously pose for pictures with you.

Hire a shogun for your next party!

Another character from the shogun era.

Oh, we are so cool!