If you have been following along for a while, it should come as no surprise to you that I love Japanese castles! If you’ve missed the articles and IG posts until now, you may have seen the running tally of how many I’ve been to on the home page for Kristen Abroad. There are so many Japanese castles to visit, where do you start? While there are many not in this category I’d also recommend, if you have limited time for Japanese castle exploration, you really should start with 12 original Japanese castles remaining.

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January of 2019 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

現存12天守 Quick Japanese Lesson

While it’s time-consuming thanks to my level of Japanese, I love doing research in Japanese. Though I still owe a debt of gratitude to Wanikani and the Minna no Nihongo series, along with so many other Japanese resources ( including my Japanese sensei at conversation classes)!

The 12 original Japanese castles are actually referring to the original Japanese castle keeps which in Japanese are usually referred to as 現存12天守. And because Japanese fascinates me, you get a quick lesson ;).

• 天守 = Tenshu, or castle tower. This term refers to the main castle keep as in Japanese castle design there are normally other towers on the complex as well. It is also sometimes referred to as “天守閣” or tenshukaku.
• 現存 = Genzon or “existing”. While that is true, they ARE existing, the English makes that somewhat confusing as there are other “Existing” Japanese castles that have been more recently re-constructed.

That said, when you see “the existing 12 Japanese castle keeps”, in Japanese they are referring to the Edo-period and older castles.

National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, and Other titles

Most of the 12 have multiple designated titles of importance. Japan likes lists of 3 and 100. They all are considered as part of the 100 finest castles of Japan but there’s more that make these the Japanese castles to visit.

We’ll start with world clout. Himeji Castle was designated as Japan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nationwide, five of the 12 are considered National Treasures: Hakone, Himeji, Inuyama, Matsue, and Matsumoto. I like to call Inuyama the most pretentious of the bunch. In the other 11 castles, there is a reference to all 12 castles (usually in pictures lining the overhead of the lookout area of the castle). Inuyama? Just shows the five that are designated as National Treasures.

The other 7 are designated “only” as Important Cultural Properties. However, most all are part of the さくら名所100選 (100 Famous Sakura Places – there’s actually 134 locations, we like lists of 100 but they aren’t always exactly 100).

Which is the oldest of the 12 original Japanese castles

I think the funniest is that at least three of them claim “I’m the oldest” somewhere on their property. Keep a lookout for signs, the first one I was at that I saw “oldest” I was so excited. Then I saw it at another and was like, wait a second…

Inuyama is one of them. Hence back to my pretentious joke.

If you go solely by when they were originally made Bitchu-Matsuyama wins hands down with an 11th-century build. However, that was on a neighboring mountain and they moved it to its current location later. The keep itself, the important part of the “which is older” at Bitchu-Matsuyama is younger than the others.

You also have the matter that regardless of when they were originally built, most had at least some fire or damage from war over the years. If you factor in what and how much was rebuilt and when, it starts to get tricky.  And of course, are we talking about the castle or the keep? Which is where I think the good majority comes from.

And Inuyama Castle has them on the keep initial construction start date (yes, you have to be that specific. The oldest castle that started construction on a Tuesday 😉 – I kid).

A general aside: I can’t imagine the amount of work it is to move so much material without the help of modern machines!

On the note of these castles being so old, this is definitely a situation you will need to take your shoes off in Japan for!

Where have all the castles gone?

There was a massive push to building Japanese castles in the late 1500s and early 1600s. I joke that they sent out carrier pigeons because the timing is creepily similar for the spread of land with no mass communication like today. You may have noticed while researching a trip in Japan that Japan is basically the size of the eastern seaboard of America.

There are estimated thousands of castles across Japan at that point. However, once the Tokugawa took over, there was a “一國一城令” or “one country, one castle order”. Lots of the 300 or so daimyo lords across Japan had to consolidate into one castle and the rest destroyed.

During the Meiji Period, there was a force in the works to get rid of all the castles as part of the Meiji restoration, otherwise, we’d have a lot more original Japanese Castles to visit. 

廢城令, or terminate the castle’s decree. Seen as symbols of the old regime, most were dismantled.  Some left just to degrade into disrepair.  Many other original Japanese castles then succumbed to earthquakes or fires or wars.  What we have left today is a testimony to those that stood up for keeping the heritage.  Mostly local movements.

12 Original Japanese Castles to visit and their keeps

Here are the 12 original Japanese castles in alphabetical order, as to not cause contention. If you’ve followed my travels for a while, you know which I think are the best original Japanese castles. Click through to their individual posts for more information on each!

Bitchu Matsuyama Castle (備中松山城）

Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle (備中松山城) to not confuse it with the other Matsuyama castle in the list of original Japanese castles, this one is in Okayama Prefecture.  It is the only one on top of a true mountain and the highest for that reason. Which makes the name even funnier as it’s a ***** to get to.

There’s no easy way to get to the top, even if you get dropped by a taxi you’ll still have a section of the mountain to hike up but it is beautiful when you do. If you are lucky you’ll be above the clouds!

Hikone Castle (彦根城)

One of the national treasures, Hikone Castle (彦根城) is on the smaller side with only a three-tier donjon, however, I’d put it as my second favorite. Located in Shiga Prefecture. It has this beautiful garden and some unique features – like the fact it was made completely out of another near by castle. Talk about recycling!

It was on the docket to have been dismantled as part of the Meiji Restoration but was saved.

Himeji Castle (姫路城)

Considered the largest of the originals, and really, there shouldn’t be contention.  Himeji Castle (姫路城) consists of some 83 buildings and the main keep is a giant 5 stories. Located in Himeji City in Hyogo Prefecture. She’s also one of the National Treasures.

You’ll need a fair amount of time to explore it all, while I’m probably the weirdo that doesn’t place this as number 1 it is still absolutely breathtaking and in my top 3. Luckily, getting to Himeji is super easy as it has its own shinkansen station

Hirosaki Castle (弘前城)

The farthest north of the original 12 Japanese castles to visit in Aomori Prefecture is Hirosaki Castle. It was originally called Takaoka Castle (there’s another one of those in the continuing list of 100 famous Japanese castles) with an original keep that was 5 stories tall that was burned in a fire.

Another of the Tokugawa’s rules was about the size of the keeps so when it was rebuilt, they were only allowed to rebuild a 3 story one.   Hirosaki Castle (弘前城) is currently relocated to reinforce the walls.  A feat in itself.

With Hirosaki Castle off by itself, you’ll definitely want to hit some of the local attractions as well. I love Aomori and Hirosaki is known for all things apples – fruit, pies, curry, random apple decorations, you name it!

Inuyama Castle (犬山城）

The aforementioned pretentious castle, Inuyama Castle (犬山城).  One of the national treasures and self–claimed oldest. Located in Aichi Prefecture.

Don’t miss the shopping street immediately in front of the castle entrance while you are here for some local food and omiyage (souvenir) shopping.

Kōchi Castle（高知城)

One of the newer of the 12 due to a fire that burnt her down.  Kochi Castle (高知城) was still rebuilt before the “cut off” though.  Kochi is the most southern prefecture in Shikoku. Unique to Kochi is that the palace is still remaining and one of the few instances where it was attached to the castle. In fact, ALL of the honmaru (1st bailey) is intact.

It’s honestly quite hard to rank the twelve against each other but this is one of my favorites. The town of Kochi has an interesting history of whale hunting so if that’s something you are against, be forewarned there is a display in a section of the castle for it.

Marugame Castle (丸亀城）

The smallest of the lot but Marugame Castle (丸亀城) still with character. Prepare for a steep hike up the hill to see the keep.  Many of the original walls are still there and famous for the fan shapes. Located on the island of Shikoku in Kagawa Prefecture.

The view out to the sea from the top is pretty amazing. Just are the stone walls, at 60 meters high they are the tallest in Japan.

Maruoka Castle (丸岡城)

Located in Fukui Prefecture, Maruoka Castle (丸岡城) probably has the stretchiest claim to the 12 as it was nearly flattened in an earthquake during last century.  However, they were able to jigsaw her back together with most of her same parts. She’s located in Fukui Prefecture.

Best part about that sketchy claim? She’s another one that claims to be the oldest Japanese castle. Don’t miss her neighboring Kasumigajo park garden, while new, they are still very nice and you can have a cup of green tea or some beer like I did while you enjoy the view.

Matsue Castle (松江城)

The 2nd largest (Matsumoto might fight her on that one), 3rd tallest, and 5th oldest, Matsue Castle (松江城) is also the farthest west on mainland Japan in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.

Matsue and neighboring Tottori have so much to see (don’t miss the sand dunes, sand dune museum, and another of the 100 famous castles, Tottori Castle).

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

One of the five National Treasures. Matsumoto Castle (松本城) is also one of the contenders for the oldest. Oh, you know how Inuyama only shows the 5 national treasures on display and ignore the other 7? Yeah, Matsumoto doesn’t give a !@#$ about the other 11. Winner of most pretentious! 🙂

Matsumoto Castle from the outside looks like 5 stories but on the inside it is actually 6. It also has the feature that it is multiple towers smushed next to each other. Nicknamed the “Crow castle” for its black exterior, its large moat makes for some spectacular photos.

Another town that you’ll want to spend some time walking around the city in. Lots of older buildings and some great beer to check out as well.

Matsuyama Castle (松山城）

I know I said I wouldn’t mention my favorite, but this is it! Matsuyama Castle (松山城) takes the cake of any of them. Even Himeji which is probably the most widely known. Located on Shikoku in Ehime prefecture.

Fun fact: Ehime is the only Prefecture with more than one of the 12 original Japanese castles to visit.

Uwajima Castle (宇和島城)

Uwajima Castle (宇和島城) is definitely a baby castle but worth the visit as it finishes out the 12! Located in Ehime Prefecture as well, but still, a bit of a ride from Matsuyama, especially if it is like when I went and hue amounts of rain had taken out part of the train tracks.

Stamp Rally

Don’t forget to get your guidebook to add these to your stamp rally for the 100 Finest Castles of Japan!  The designation set by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006 and further in 2017.

12 Original Japanese Castles Map

As you can see by the below map, you aren’t going to be hitting these all in one day! Frankly, I love how much they are spread out because it gives you the opportunity to see so much more of this beautiful country.

Original Japanese Castles Hiking Courses

It is super easy to get exercise in Japan with all the walking around you can do. Having such a great public transportation system (between the buses, trains, and shinkansen) helps that. But also the general “culture” of Japan. Case in point – hiking courses (we’d call them trails but it’s courses in Japan). Most all Japanese castles to visit have courses mapped out for you already. Or you can make your own with your fitness device, I love my Garmin Fenix 6s.

Not that you necessarily need an extra route to hike when some of these castles are massive! But if you are staying in a particular city for a few days, I’d suggest giving it a go, there are always beautiful views and random artifacts hidden around.

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As someone who never a day in her life in America rode a bus, they can be intimidating. Sure, I used the subway or metro in bigger cities, but let’s face it, America’s public transportation sucks. Generally speaking, if you are using buses in Japan, you aren’t going somewhere easy (otherwise you’d be on a train, but we’ll also touch on highway buses!).  If it’s a mile away, I’ll walk, but start getting farther out, you really do need a bus. Throw in a very complicated written language, like Japanese, it’s even scarier. So here are 5 tips for using the bus that I hope helps you on your way!

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

5 tips for using buses in Japan

The key to remember is the more practice you have, the more comfortable you will become with using buses in Japan. While kanji can make it a bit more intimidating than other places, more and more buses in Japan are becoming more foreign-friendly with English (and normally Chinese) being used for the signs.

1) How to save money on buses in Japan

Remember when I talked about Pasmo and Suica pre-pay cards?  As long as you aren’t in the boonies, this is the easiest way to go.  You are receiving a small discount by using them, however, if you are somewhere that doesn’t do cards and you’re near the bus depot, pay for the roundtrip (if you are only going one place), you’ll save a few dollars depending on how far you’re going!  

When we took the 45–minute bus ride to Takayama Inari Shrine it was 900 yen one way.  Or 1500 yen round trip.  Something to check, because if you are going round trip anyway, you may as well save a bit!

In cities, often time there is flat rates or bus passes you can get.  Check at the bus station or tourist information center (my must when traveling in Japan) when you get there. A great way to get around Hirosaki and many other cities are the tourist “loop buses”.

2) How to navigate WHICH buses in Japan to use

This is the hard part.  Sometimes there is a whole army of buses at the depot heading off in different directions.  The best starting point is to look up where you are going.  If they have a website, they usually have an “access” page.  If they require a bus to get to them, you’ll be able to check which stop you are looking for, and hopefully, what bus line. 

As, like trains, there are multiple different options.  As far as knowing which stop it is, they are all actually named, and even farther out, they’ll have the name in English characters.  If you are worried about signaling to stop though (there are usually red buttons to press), it is helpful to know what the Kanji looks like as it will appear first.

Next, it’s just a matter to figure out what “platform” or bus name to look for.  Anywhere I’ve been that requires buses in Japan, I make sure to explain that in detail as I know I get stressed out by it so I want to make it as easy as possible for you! Getting to Ryusendo Caves coming to mind.

Lastly, where to get off the bus.  If there was a bus terminal, they should be able to provide you with a time schedule.  Though on roads, they are surprisingly close to the time expected. Yes, even the buses in Japan are punctual! If you have a phone with data (it would be nice if all transportation had WiFi!), you can also google map it to give you a better idea.

3) Reading bus schedules in Japan

There are apps for bus routes but best I’ve been able to find, they are all in Japanese.  Google-san (as it’s called in Japan) is your friend and is doing a better job with including bus routes as a direction option.

For routes, remember that they can differ between 休日 (kyuujitsu, “holidays”) and 平日 (heijitsu, weekdays). 休日 you will normally see listed as “休日 (土　日　祝日)” which means “Holiday (Saturday – Sunday – National Holiday)”. In this case, 土曜, Saturday, is shortened to 土, as 曜 (day) is understood.

If time tables between week days and week ends are different, you will see one of these characters at the top of the column. They normally change the color of the column as well to make it stand out.

This next graphic is a simplistic schedule. If weekday also included a 14:44 bus, for instance, there would be a “44” in the next column from the “24”. Note that not all areas will have English like this one, so it is helpful to learn the kanji or have screenshots of what you are looking for.

4) Getting on and off buses in Japan

Generally, you’ll get on from the back door of the bus but that’s not always the case. One hint, if both doors open, use the rear one.  Some queue lines are very exact and will give you an idea as well because the door will open right at the front of the line.  It’s Japan, we queue for everything.

If you are using a PASMO or other IC card (if that’s an option where you are), you’ll see a PASMO sensor to tap, just tap on and off the bus.  If you are somewhere that needs a ticket or to pay by cash, there will be a number dispenser.  This will be used to verify where you got on (though no one will actually check it). You will see a white piece of paper out of a machine, just grab one as you are getting onboard.

In this picture above, immediately next to the driver is where you pay.  Left of that is the dispenser for what stop you got on. They are in number order but don’t really refer to anything besides that. And in the overhead is the display board.

There will be a screen at the top of the buses in Japan, the price will change as you continue on the way.  Watch what it is for your number and you will drop your number and the exact amount of money in the machine when you step off the bus at your destination.  The machine in which you put your money also has the ability to change bills as necessary generally.  However, it’s a good idea to carry lots of change if you are somewhere that requires riding buses in Japan.

5) Getting back – not missing your bus

Assuming you are returning from where you departed the bus, it’s a good idea to double check the time table.  Even if you got one from the bus terminal.  I generally like to get back 5-10 minutes before the bus is expected in areas where they don’t run often.  They are punctual, but you never know if you might be the one running late!  If you’re getting on at a different location, definitely give yourself some time to locate the bus stop to save yourself some stress.

In this example, there are three bus routes that stop at this stand.  The hours are listed down the left-hand column and the minutes (in the corresponding hour) are listed in the columns per bus.

How to use Highway Buses in Japan

(At updating this article, the highway buses in Japan are currently suspended due to COVID-19 but hopefully, we can use them again soon!)

Highway buses (高速バス, kousoku bus) are often cheaper than taking the train (especially if you’d be taking the shinkansen) to your destination. They are good for medium and long distances. Many longer routes will run overnight, getting you to your destination first thing in the morning. Which works really well for getting to ski resorts, which is the instance I’ve used highway buses in Japan the most. They are also a good option if you tend to get train sick.

For long distance travel for the budget minded traveler in Japan, the overnight options can be great for you as you don’t have to worry about finding lodging – you just sleep on the bus.

You can use Kousoku Bus Net to search for highway bus routes in Japan. You can also save some money by getting one of the highway bus passes.

One of the nice things about highway buses in Japan is that there is room underneath for your luggage, but usually, you are limited to a few items. If there aren’t restrooms onboard, the bus driver will make stops along the way at the highway stations (more on those later).

To purchase your tickets, head to the bus station (normally co-located with train stations, but can have separate hubs like in Iwakuni). You can also purchase them from kiosks in convenience stores.

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Personally, I still don’t like buses.  I much prefer trains and walking (got to rank up my steps with my Garmin Fenix 6S after all!).  However, it’s a necessary evil sometimes. Hopefully, this helps put your mind at ease a bit while traveling around Japan.  There’s also this thing called highway buses in Japan, which I would liken to greyhound buses in the states, that will be a different topic.

What’s your experience with buses around the world?

Torii gate fan?  I’m going to test your resolve. Getting to Takayama Inari Shrine (高山稲荷神社) in Tsugaru is not for the faint of heart even if you are like me and take crazy day trips! Seeing one of the most famous “thousand” torii gates in Japan is worth it though. And yes, there is a reason I put thousand torii gates in quotation marks! Keep reading.

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Getting to Takayama Inari Shrine (高山稲荷神社)

First, I don’t suggest you do this trip like I ended up doing it. Amateur move, I didn’t realize at the time that there were no standing tickets on the Hayabusa Shinkansen except for a few at the end of the cars.

I showed up at Tokyo Station on a Friday evening to buy train tickets and there were none until the next day! That botched one hotel stay but gave the opportunity to check out some new izakaya around Tokyo station.

Thanks to a very jammed packed weekend plan for Aomori, that compressed the schedule for Takayama Inari Shrine greatly. But! Sometimes !@#$ happens on travel and you need to adjust.

It all worked out but in the future, I would suggest an early trek up to Aomori, with a full day in the capital (the capital of Aomori Prefecture is also named Aomori just to be confusing) and then starting what I’m about to tell you from that point.

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

How to get from Tokyo to Takayama Inari Shrine

From Tokyo, you’ll want to take the 3.5-hour shinkansen ride to Shin-Aomori Station. From there, take the Ou Line towards Hirosaki and transfer at Kawabe Station to get up to Goshogawara Station. Luckily that is all on the JR lines so for you lucky enough to be able to use a JR Rail Pass, it’s covered! From there, it is a bus route or taxi.

This is PASMO dead zone, as I call it. Or it was when I went, not all rural stations or buses take IC Cards. None of these trains come very often so make sure to check your timetables and be aware of transfer times. The best option for these is Hyperdia. You will most likely be killing some time. Walk around, take some pictures, enjoy the weather!

The trains are fairly straight forward.  Buses on the other hand tend to stress me out while they are surprisingly on schedule as well, you can be out in the middle of nowhere and get stuck. Don’t worry though, I’ve done the leg work for you.

How to get to Takayama Inari Shrine From Goshogawara

Once you’ve made it to Goshogawara Station, first, go straight to the bus station across the street, as seriously, the buses only come once every hour or two.  Double–check the time table. 

[Pro tip: When you are most likely waiting for the bus, go check out the Tachinebuta Museum, it’s amazing]

You’re looking for the 五所川原-小泊 route on the Konan Line, however, the boards are all COMPLETELY in Japanese, so get some practice in for your kanji numbers (the first character 五 or “go” is the number 5) or go talk to the nice station clerks.

The bus station attendees will be able to give you the time schedule (Click that link and look for 99 in the middle of the page, that’s your bus route!) and if you get the roundtrip ticket at the counter, you’ll save 300 yen.

The bus itself though, which luckily I noticed that none of the boards say that route name, will say 十三 経由 which is the last bit of information on the bus route. You’ll be getting off the 高山稲荷神社入口 (Entrance to Takayama Inari Shrine) stop after about a 40-minute bus ride.

Getting your exercise

From there, it’s about a 3.5 km walk (converting to English units that’s a little over 2 miles) or the bus station at the time had the number for the taxi stand. Follow the direction the bus was heading and it’s the first left and straight on from there till basically you run into the ocean.

Oh, and double-check the timetable for the return and remember it’s 30-45 minute walk back. Speaking of exercise, I love my Garmin Fenix 5S for keeping track of the insane amount of walking I do in Japan!

Numbers in Japanese that mean “many”

I’m going to digress for a second into a quick Japanese lesson. This is something it took me several years to learn (one failing on my love for the Minna no Nihongo series) and will help you understand different features around Japan. You’ll see why when I’m done.

There are actually several numbers in Japanese that often when they show up, are not numbers at all, but just another way to say “many”.

For instance the 99 Islands (九十九島, くじゅうくしま) between Sasebo and Hirado in Kyushu. There’s actually several hundred of them.

Another is 万. If you know your Japanese money, you’ll notice that’s the character that goes with the 一万 (ichiman, 10,000 yen, or about $100 USD) bill. If you ever see it on its own that is not what it means but “a myriad” instead. Also, it is no longer pronounced “man” but “yorozu”.

八百 (はっぴゃく, happyaku) is “800” but it too (for some reason, why are there so many??!!) can mean many. Like when you tack it in front of the word for “store” and magically it becomes “fruit and vegetable store” because you obviously have a lot of those but hardly 800!

That leads us to the use of 千 (sen, 1000), when talking about torii gates.

“Thousand” Torii Gates

Let’s talk a minute about the “thousand” torii gates (千本鳥居, senbon torii) at Takayama Inari Shrine. While the first word is, indeed, “thousand”, it normally gets directly translated as such. Just like Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto. “The shrine with a thousand torii gates”.

In actuality, Fushimi Inari Shrine is estimated to have ten thousand torii gates. When you see 千本鳥居 it means “torii corridor” or just “many torii”. Same goes with Takayama Inari Shrine, the senbon torii that snakes like a dragon through the shrine is made up of a few hundred torii gates.

While I’ve often seen Takayama Inari Shrine referred to as “the Fushimi Inari of the North”, Takayama beats them out as far at the “Top 3” Senbon torii in the country (remember I talked about another weird thing with numbers on my post about the 200 famous castles of Japan). Fushimi Inari is still one of the top Inari Shrines so you’ll be amazed by it as well and it should definitely be on your list when you visit Kyoto!

What that does say though is you should definitely make the ridiculous trip to Aomori just for this shrine! Oh, okay, and Hirosaki Castle and many other things as well!

Takayama Inari Shrine is beautiful

Is it worth it? The one other random foreigner that just by chance had the exact same start to his weekend itinerary to Aomori (seriously, weird chances – same shinkansen, same bus, same walk! But he missed out on the neputa museum) said he’d seen it as “one of the top 14 great shrines of Japan”. 

Honestly, I can’t find anything that says that. But regardless, it’s beautiful and I’d say if you’re in for an adventure, make your way here. And see a bunch of Aomori while you’re at it.

The definite allure is the 200+ Torii gates you walk through as they snake their way through and make for a lovely walk. Watch out though, if you’re tall. I’m 175cm and it wasn’t that much higher than me.

How many torii gates are at Takayama Inari Shrine?

You’ll see 205, 208, around the internet, but technically there are many more than just the senbon torii around the property. Their website doesn’t actually give it to you stating it’s fun to count yourself! And don’t trust my voice in the video above, we were speculating and because I was trying to walk and not fall into the water, I wasn’t counting either!

Fox statues and small shrines

After walking through the string of torii gates and getting to the top, you may notice all of the fox statues and small house looking things of to the side.

Instead of komainu (狛犬) or lion-like dog guardians you see at other sects of Shinto shrines, the “inari” in Inari Shrine is the word for fox. Hence, the foxes were guardians at one point.

The small houses are actually shrines as well. They are called 祠 or hokora (and usually spelled in kana alone). They are little baby shrines normally found in the precincts of larger shrines but they are also found along roadsides. As such, I normally call them roadside shrines and they were there to keep people safe on the road.

Why are they here? I was joking it’s like their retirement home. Best I’ve been able to understand it is they are kind of like psalms in which once they’ve lived out their useful life, they are returned to the place of worship.

Staying at the Shrine

While I wasn’t able to do this myself, you have the option to stay at Takayama Inari Shrine! It’s a very reasonable 4000-7000 yen per night and you can have more time to enjoy the shrine and the views of the ocean. Did I mention the ocean is right there? You just need to contact them directly.

Lookout tower and memorial

Outside the main grounds of the shrine and back towards the main road, there is a turn off that will take you up the hill by the Otorii gate (Big Torii) to a lookout tower and give you a birds-eye view of the surrounding country and ocean!

At this location, there is also a memorial for the victims of the Cheseborough ship. A United States vessel that went down in 1889 off the coast. Only 4 of the crew were courageously saved by the locals and is commemorated here.

If you have been around for a while you know I love seeking out manhole covers, and they even had this one to commemorate as well! The Village of Shariki (車力村) was absorbed into Tsugaru with a bunch of other towns and villages.

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Don’t leave Japan without first seeing a Japanese castle, you won’t see these in other parts of the world.  What I believe people identify with is the 天主 (tenshu, or keep), which is the highest tower in the castle complex.  There’s only twelve original remaining and Hirosaki Castle is one of them.

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Hirosaki Castle Main Keep and it’s crazy history

Constructed in 1611, Hirosaki Castle’s tenshu was originally 5 “cake layers” high. (You can see what I mean from the picture). However, it burnt down from a lightning strike some 16 years after construction.  Not just burnt down, apparently, there was a fair amount of explosives stored inside and it exploded. The fire blaze could be seen from 20 km away (converting that to English units, 12 miles!).

Its full five–story glory is lost to history thanks to rules of the time, 武家諸法度, Buke shohatto, the samurai laws. Castles could be repaired but only at the approval of the shogunate. As such, there was no “keeping up with the Jones'” or shogunate as it were. It was replaced by a tower and for nearly 200 years the poor Tsugaru clan had to survive without a main keep.

Which they did, obviously.

The three-story tenshu you see today was finished in 1810. It wasn’t put back where the original was housed but moved to the seaward facing side. Luckily, that still puts it in the Edo period which ended in 1868, and therefore Hirosaki Castle can be considered one of the 12 pre-Meiji era constructed castles still in existence.

This gate, Ninomaru South Gate, on the other hand, is thought to be original.

Important Cultural Properties of Hirosaki Castle

The Agency for Cultural Affairs has designated 9 structures at Hirosaki Castle as Important Cultural Property (重要文化財 jūyō bunkazai). These are all structures remaining from Edo period.

• 北の郭北門（亀甲門) Kitanokuruwa Kitamon (Kamekoumon)
• 二の丸東門 Ninomaru Higashimon
• 二の丸南門 Ninomaru Nanmon
• 二の丸未申櫓Ninomaru Hitsujisaru Yagura
• 二の丸辰巳櫓Ninomaru Tatsumi Yagura
• 二の丸丑寅櫓Ninomaru Ushitora Yagura
• 三の丸東門 Sannomaru Higashimon
• 三の丸追手門Sannomaru Otemon
• 天守 Tenshu

I go more into depth on different castle characteristics in the post about the 200 famous castles in Japan, but to summarize, ninomaru and sannomaru are the second and third baileys.

門 or “mon” means gate (can you see it a little bit with the kanji? It looks like a midwest saloon door to me) and 櫓 or “yagura” means watchtower. 天守 or “tenshu” is the main castle tower or keep and probably what most people think when they think about Japanese castles.

But why only have one designation? Hirosaki Castle is also combined as a National Historic Site with its fellow Tsugaru Clan Castle sites of Tanesato Castle and Horikoshi Castle. Both were much older and thanks to the Tokugawa Shogunate’s direction that each daimyo (Japanese Feudal Lord) could only have one castle (poor things!) were destroyed in the early 1600s.

Speaking of disaster: Moving Hirosaki Castle

In 1983, there was a great earthquake in the Sea of Japan.  Hirosaki is close to the water… it’s an island, it’s all close.  Anyway, thank you Mr. Earthquake, you damaged a perfectly good 400-year-old wall beneath the castle. Funnily enough, they use the word “はらみ”, for it which can mean “pregnant”.

This threatens to collapse the whole thing if another earthquake should hit, as a result, they MOVED it.  Ceremoniously, they had people help with part of the movement (think giant tug of war against a building), the rest they did with machines.  Though I don’t think the castle would complain, it has an even better view of Mt. Iwaki, the stratovolcano, in the distance now.  Construction is expected to finish in 2023, which impacts your view but also cool to see the work being done.

Take a picture at 下乗橋 (ゲジョウバシ, Gejo Bridge)

The bridge leading to Hirosaki Castle crosses the moat between the main and second baileys is called 下乗橋 (ゲジョウバシ, Gejobashi – Google doesn’t translate that correctly, by the way). It was meant to knock down when invading armies came. Therefore, it is not original but makes a beautiful picture spot!

The name is thought to come from the requirement to dismount your horse before going across the bridge and there is a plaque that talks about it.

Don’t stop there though, there are 9 bridges in total within the park!

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Botanical Gardens, Shinto Shrine, and other features

There are also botanical gardens to check out on the property that you can get a joint ticket for with Hirosaki Castle. There is also a Shinto shrine you can visit.

Scattered throughout the property are remains of storehouses, missing gates and turrets, plus the foundation for the original castle tower. Sadly as is with the majority of palaces or 御殿 (goten), all that remains is a marker for where it once stood.

You’re going to get your exercise for the day visiting as the park is massive! By the way, if you are ever looking for an awesome fitness watch, I highly recommend the Garmin Fenix 5S and since they came out with series 6 it is less expensive!

Festivals at Hirosaki Castle Park

There are three events to keep in mind throughout the year that take place in the castle park.

弘前さくらまつり・Hirosaki Sakura Festival

The Hirosaki Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Festival takes place for a few weeks between the end of April and beginning of May. That pushes it into Golden Week so I would recommend earlier if you want to avoid crowds. It is also a good idea to check when the peak bloom is supposed to be!

The castle park boasts some 2600 cherry blossom trees (their count, not mine – check out the logo, 2600 trees, and 400 years of history) and is said to be one of the best in Japan!

Most impressive is what they call the “flower raft” which is a coating of pedals on the surface of the moat.

弘前城雪燈籠まつり・Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival

The Hirosaki Castle Snow Lantern Festival (弘前城雪燈籠まつり) has taken place in early February every year since 1977. There are giant snow statues, projection mapping, and snow lanterns plus a really cool looking light-up art installation.

Just like Hokkaido has many snow festivals, Tohoku has a bunch as well. Five large ones to be exact. They are referred to as the みちのく五大雪まつり, best part? They all happen around the same time. One of these years I’m going to do them all in the same go!

冬に咲くさくらライトアップ・ Winter Sakura Bloom Light Up

Can’t make it for the snow festival? Japan loves its winter illuminations and Hirosaki is no different! From December through February what started as one picture in 2016 has turned into a yearly event called 冬に咲くさくらライトアップ or Winter Sakura Bloom Light Up.

How to get to Hirosaki Castle

Aomori Prefecture is absolutely gorgeous and you can definitely make a weekend trip out of it with the fastest shinkansen route in Japan.

From Tokyo to Hirosaki Castle is a relatively easy route. Take the Hayabusa Shinkansen from Tokyo Shinkansen platform bound for Shin-Aomori Station. Switching at Shin-Aomori Station you get on the JR Ou Line or you can take the Limited Express Tsugaru to Hirosaki Station.

You could also take a plane but by the time you add in time to get through security and waiting at the airport, taking the train ends up being similar time-wise. Plus, if you are using the JR Rail Pass, this route definitely gets you your money’s worth.

From there, the castle isn’t that far of a walk from the Hirosaki train station or they have the “loop bus” route if the weather is bad for 100 yen. Those buses come much more regularly (10 min) than the ones I mentioned to get to Takayama Inari Shrine!  (The sign for the hundred yen bus is hilarious, look out for it).

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Oh, Japan. Land of got-to-collect-them-all, including hundreds of castles in varying levels of existence.  There are thousands of ruins from almost indistinguishable mounds to castle walls with no castle structures.  Most of the castle keep structures are reconstructions but there is the crème de la crème, 12 original castles from the pre-Meiji era. The 100 Famous Castles in Japan (日本百名城, Nihon Hyaku Meijō) were chosen by the Japan Castle Foundation (日本城郭協会, Nihon Jōkaku Kyōkai) followed by another 100 after that! When you have so many to check off your list, how do you keep track of them all? Why, a castle stamp rally, of course!

[Editors Note: This post was originally published in December of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Japan and Numbered Rankings

Hundreds of years ago, a Confucian scholar created clickbait before it was even a thing! I just made that up but it’s conveniently similar. As he traveled Japan he named the three best views of Japan (日本三景, nihonsankei). Itsukushima Shrine is one of them and since then there have been countless “Best three of Japan” in various categories.

Legit. As in these are not to be contested. They are the best.

Top 3 gardens (Kairakuen in Mito, Ibaraki; Kenrokuen in Kanazawa, Ishikawa; and Kōrakuen in Okayama, Okayama); Top three big buddhas (三大大仏, sandai-daibutsu, you’ve seen me talk about Todaiji in Nara and you’ll soon hear about Kamakura and Takaoka’s as I’ve been to them as well); and so many others. Three great onsens, caves (Ryusendo is amazing), shrines of all sects (and of course Fushimi Inari in Kyoto is one), night views.

Name it. They exist.

Well, there’s also a thing with the number 100. We’ll blame that one on the Billboard Top 100 but I honestly don’t know if they are correlated. What started as the 100 top mountains in Japan (as best I can tell it was the first and of course Mount Fuji is number one) has since spread to other aspects.

Great way to make a book. An even better way to entice a massive tourism industry! Start with the peaks, move on to the 100 best shrines, 100 best spots to view cherry blossoms, 100 best parks, and then we have the 100 best castles.

Japan Castle Foundation (日本城郭協会)

The Japan Castle Foundation (日本城郭協会, Nihon jyoukaku kyoukai) was founded in 昭和31年4月 (April of Showa 31 or 1956 for the rest of the world) by a bunch of academics for knowledge sharing and cultural exchange. They aren’t just about Japan castles, they also study castles around the world. Along with the 100 Famous Castles in Japan and the Continued 100 Famous Castles in Japan, they also have a list of 100 Famous castles in Europe.

In Showa 67 (1965), the Ministry of Education acknowledged them as an organization and as such were given a budget. On their 40th anniversary as a foundation, a project to commemorate the event was started. Deciding on the top 100 Famous castles in Japan to promote.

Kochi Castle, one of the 100 Famous Castles in Japan and remaining original constructions

The 100 Famous Castles in Japan (日本百名城, Nihon Hyaku Meijō)

Don’t ask me why or when I started but I normally prefer translating “百名” as “hundred finest” as opposed to “hundred famous” (as what it literally is) but I think it has a better ring to it. But alas, you’ll see in a second why famous is a better fit.

For several months in 2005, they reached out to residents to give recommendations of one to five top castles in each prefecture. From the applications, a panel of castle experts met to decide the fate.

Honestly, I bet there was a huge debate over some of them! Only 5 max a prefecture?! By the Japan Castle Foundations prediction, there are probably somewhere in the range of 40-50 THOUSAND castle remains in Japan.

For the selection process from all of the entries, each castle had to meet one of the following three criteria to be considered one of the famous castles in Japan.

• Being an excellent cultural property or historical site (think world heritage Himeji Castle or one of the National Treasure like Hikone Castle)
• Played a prominent role in history (not all castles saw battle)
• Are representative of an era or region

That last one gets me because I’m sure they all in some way represent their regions. After all, a giant majority of Japan’s cities started as castle towns! But remember, your prefecture gets five max! The discussions of what made each better than the next must-have been fascinating.

To help make sure the rankings weren’t biased by people’s favorite castles, they brought in experts in various fields such as architecture, archeology, civil engineering, and history to level the playing field. 

Kakegawa Castle – No. 42 of the 100 Famous Castles in Japan, is an easy trip from Osaka or Tokyo! It was rebuilt using original construction methods and Kakegawa also has one of the few remaining palaces in Japan.

One thing to note, though they are labeled 1 to 100 the 100 famous castles in Japan are not in rank order but numbered according to the location from North to South and East to West. There are some slight variations to that but for the most part, it works.

Continued 100 Famous Castles in Japan (続日本100名城)

In 2017, as part of their 50th anniversary of the founding of the castle foundation, they created an additional 100 list. 続日本100名城, Zoku Nihon Hyaku-Meijō. Continuation of the 100 castles to help further promote castle, and therefore history, discovery.

Personally I think it was also a ploy to promote more tourism around the country, but I’ll take it! The conditions were the same and again, they went out to each prefecture for submissions but this time they also asked the Japan Castle Foundation members, and those that had been going to the original list of 100 castles.

So, if you like castles, you have 200 stamps to go collect. And don’t forget those other 40,000 castles (yes, thousand) potential castles in Japan. Like a third Matsuyama Castle hidden in the hills near the Yoshimi Caves in Saitama.

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program in which I may earn a small commission by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.  Price to you is not affected! It helps me do what I love, share Japan with you!

12 Pre-Meiji Era Castle Keeps in Japan

While they are often referred to as the 12 original castles in Japan, this sentiment applies to the original construction of 12 castle main keeps still in existence today. The Japanese term for them is 現存天守 (genson tenshu).

What’s with there only being 12? Well, when things are made of wood… it’s easier to burn down! Not to mention the deconstruction of many castles during the Meiji Era (more on that in a bit) and well,… bombings.

If you are seeing this list of 100 castles and thinking “Oh god, how will I ever get through that list on my trip to Japan?!”, I highly recommend you start with the 12. If you are going to call any famous castles in Japan – it’s these!

That being said, they also are spread throughout the islands of Honshu and Shikoku but that just gives you an excellent way to make the most out of your Japan Rail Pass! You’ll also get to the experience of riding on Japan’s fastest shinkansen (or bullet train) if you follow my suggestions on how to get to Aomori to see Hirosaki Castle.

As one of my must-do missions, I have focus posts on all of them so make sure to check out this post about the 12 remaining original castle keeps of Japan.

Where did all the Japanese castles go? Meiji Restoration

You may have heard of Commodore Perry taking a fleet of American warships and knocking on Japan’s door, so to speak, in 1853 to open up the borders. This was the start of the end of Japan’s isolation from the world. You see, during the Tokugawa shogunate run period of Edo, they cut off Japan near completely.

However, as their power was getting weaker, there was a movement to restore the imperial throne. There was always an emperor, the Chrysanthemum Throne is the longest-running hereditary monarchy in the world! But the shogunate was calling the shots. Anyway, Emporer Meiji (hence it being called “Meiji Restoration”) was reinstated and they had to make sure they knew who was boss.

So they systematically dismantled near all of the existing Japanese castles that acted as the dwelling place of the shogunate rulers.

There’s lots to learn about castles in Japan!

How to become a castle expert

If you are familiar with the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), this set up is going to sound similar. In order to further promote the castles in Japan and “lifelong learning”, a test was created to challenge people’s knowledge. It started in November of 2012 and has been growing in size with over 20,000 people taking it! There are now five levels of the test.

• Level 4, Beginners with an average passing rate of 96.7% has general knowledge of the famous castles in Japan
• Level 3, Elementary level with a more detailed understanding of construction, history and culture mostly focused on the 100 famous castles in Japan but also has questions from the continued list
• Level 2, Intermediate level has a deep understanding of the particulars of the 200 famous castles in Japan
• Semi-Level 1 (that’s just funny to me), Difficult level in which you are a つわもの or warrior returning to the castle (literally, that’s how they describe it!). It’s themed every year
• Level 1, Expert level. You’ve made it! You’re an expert!

It starts out with questions like “What’s the only pre-Meiji castle remaining in Tohoku?” (Answer: Hirosaki Castle) and raises in difficulty to things like “Castle X was decorated with paper lanterns to see which missionary off?” (I’m not bothering with that full question example because, what?!).

The test is administered twice a year in Fukuoka, Himeji, Nagoya, Osaka, Sendai, and Tokyo.

For some of the basics on Japanese castles, keep reading!

Types of Castles in Japan

If it looks like a castle, talks like a castle and walks like a castle… ok, maybe not walks. Japanese castle structure is very distinctive from the rest of the world.

The geography can play a big role in each design. There are three main types

• 山城 (yamashiro) or mountain castles
• 平山城 (hirayamashiro) or flat mountain castles, these are on hills on a plain
• 平城 (hirashiro) or castle on the plains

With the obvious advantage to the mountain and flat mountain castles for their defensive structures. However, castles on plains have their places as well and often would be incorporated into nearby waterways for an automatic moat.

Layout and Structures of Japanese Castles

There are many components that make up a Japanese castle. You may think when planning your trip around Japan that you don’t need much time in a castle. Believe me, some of them can take you all day! And you don’t want to miss out on some really cool features and even museums that many of them have!

Castle Keep

What most people think of as “THE CASTLE” for Japan is usually the 天守 (tenshu) or castle tower/keep (also called a donjon). There are four main types and my absolute favorite is Matsuyama Castle with its square design and center courtyard.

• 独立式天守, Independent Castle Tower.
• 複合式天守, Compound Castle Tower which has a 付櫓 or attached tower with the main tower
• 連絡式天守, Contact Type Castle Tower. That one doesn’t translate very well. It has a main castle tower with a 渡櫓 or crossing tower (think like a hallway) connecting to another 小天守 or smaller castle tower
• 連立式天守, Coalition Castle Tower. Think of this one as having a courtyard in the middle. A main castle keep with three smaller castle towers connected by hallway towers.

Looking from the outside of castles in Japan, they vary in “levels” usually from 3 to 6. The part of a Japanese castle that makes it look like a layer cake. But the amount of floors inside might be very different from what you see on the exterior!

Be cautious in the older castles, and even some of the remakes, the staircases are more like what you would see on a Navy ship. More ladder than stairs. Why is this? If the enemy made it inside it was harder to move up the floors!

It should be noted that a good majority of castles in Japan no longer have a tenshu. It was the symbol of power and usually the thing to go during the Meiji Restoration.

If you’re looking for the full effect, make sure to choose one that either from the pre-Meiji era (my recommendation if you are limited on time) or for a rebuilt one. On that note, not all rebuilds are created equal! Most are just concrete facades housing museums. Kakegawa and Kanazawa are two options for new builds using old construction techniques.

Citadels

If you aren’t as familiar with castle terminology, think of the citadels or baileys as the areas protected by the castle walls. Of which you can have multiple layers of defense.

The castle towers are located in the 本丸 (hon-maru) or inner citadel/bailey. There are generally two more baileys, 二の丸 (ni-no-maru, literally ‘second circle’) and 三の丸 (san-no-maru, third circle) in most castles but it’s not limited. They don’t always have those names either. Some times it can be the “east circle” or something similar.

Inside each would be where people lived, things like storehouses and the palaces existed – of which, you think original Japanese castle structures are rare, the palaces are even more so! Nijo Castle and Kakegawa Castles ninomaru palaces are two great options, as well as Kawagoe’s Honmaru Palace.

Overarching layouts

If you want to pay closer to any specific detail, this is the one I’d choose. Why? Because you can use it to decide on different castles to go to so you can see each style and don’t go to the same thing over and over again. Something that I feel happens a lot with shrines and temples so after a while, “they are all the same”. We don’t want that, too many awesome castles to see!

If the circle in the name didn’t give it away, one of the main overarching layouts would have them in 輪郭式 (ring fortification) or concentric circles (really squares but we’re sticking with the ‘maru” here which means circle). 二条城 (Nijo Castle) in Kyoto is this style.

There are three other styles:

• 連郭式 or a continuous string from one bailey to the next, in a row like 水戸城 (Mito Castle)
• 梯郭式 or ladder fortification, think… I honestly can’t think of how to describe this in English. Like an L-shaped staircase, I suppose. 岡山城 (Okayama Castle) is this style.
• 渦郭式 or spiral fortification, which is just like it sounds and is part of the reason 丸亀城 (Marugame Castle) is a pain to hike up to!

But of course, there are exceptions to the rule, not all topographies fit into a pretty box.

Other structures of Japanese Castles

When you are exploring castles make sure to take note of all the different aspects, they aren’t just the castle keeps! There are plenty of Important Cultural Properties mixed in – Himeji Castle has different designations on 80+ of its buildings and structures! Some things to look out for:

• 櫓 (yagura) or watchtowers that make the outer ring of citadels include the new construction at Kanazawa using old techniques. Fun fact: 櫓 (yagura) is also the kanji that is used for the structure of my favorite piece of Japanese furniture – Kotatsu!

• 門 (mon) or gates! All of the gates! Many of the castles that are just walls remaining generally have at least a gate left that dates back to other eras like the one at 鳥取城 (Totori Castle).

• 石垣 (ishigasa) or stone walls. 丸亀城 (Marugame Castle) has the highest in Japan.　There is also some really cool engineering that goes into the different styles of stone wall construction.
• 堀 (hori) or moats. Some of the most beautiful are Edo Castles in my opinion.

Defenses

Also keep an eye out for some cool defense systems! And by cool I mean I’m glad I haven’t had to come face to face on them during a battle!

What is the Stamp Rally?

Fun thing about the 100. Japan’s good for stamp rallys. All over. You can get stamps for nearly anything. It’s a way of commemorating your visit. And it’s a fun hobby to “catch them all”.  I reference Pokemon a lot. It’s just a Japan thing, let it go!

In 2007, a stamp rally was added to go along with the 100 Finest Castles in Japan list. The goal was to entice people to deepen their knowledge of the history of Japan and with the stamp book, it helped increase interest in castles.

To top it off, the stamps are very pretty so they can be used to commemorate your visit. And the Japan Castle Association also makes it clear on their website that they don’t intend for people to run around like crazy trying to get them all at once. Take your time and enjoy it!

Certifying your castle visits

Certify what? Yes, not only can you just go around Japan getting pretty stamps, you can have them certified complete and given a special recognition.

A couple of ways to get your stamp rally book, you can sign up to be a member of the foundation or you can purchase the book separately. As you are reading this on an English website, the latter option is probably best.

You have two options for books that I recommend as I have both. One has the stamp book built-in (日本100名城に行こう 公式スタンプ帳つき) and therefore will be a bit heavier to carry around. The other is a guidebook that comes with a separate stamp book pamphlet in the back (日本100名城公式ガイドブック (歴史群像シリーズ)).

Both are in Japanese but you’ll still be able to match the pictures with the castle and they are all numbered.

Only a few castles have these available in their gift shops so make sure you prepare ahead of time and order one!

Where to get your stamp?

Be watchful as there are LOTS of stamp rally’s in Japan and actually, when we were at Inuyama, there were no less than 5 stamps to get.  Side note: It’s good just to have a blank book with you while you are traveling in Japan! I’ll talk more about goshuin (shrine stamp books) later.

Each of the books as one of the facts on the castle gives you the location of the stamps. That’s not very helpful if you can’t read Japanese (and if you are looking at learning I suggest Minna no Nihongo and Wanikani to get you started).

You can normally find them at the register for those castles with a main keep or somewhere inside. Throw on Japanese pronunciation and ask for the “スタンプラリー” (stamp rally spelled in Katakana) and you’ll get there. There are also sometimes signs if they are in other buildings like this one at Inuyama Castle.

If you’re at one of the castles that don’t have a keep, often time there is a municipal building or museum on the grounds that have the stamp. The stamps are sometimes even at shrines.

I’ve definitely wandered around in circles on large castle grounds trying to find the stamps so when you read my posts about them, I will promise to try and always tell you where they are!

Making it legit

If you are eventually looking to get your certification, you MUST get the stamp in your book. Some places will have paper available and they say they will take that but best be safe and do as directed (also in Japanese, inside the books).

Each castle has a specific color ink to use so you’ll only see one of four colors, black, red, blue or green. Speaking of extra pieces of paper, it’s a good idea to have some to make sure it doesn’t bleed onto the other page.

As Inuyama is an actual National Treasure, a higher designation than even some of the original 12 castles. Don’t let it being number 43 in the 100 finest castles confuse you.  They are in order from North to South, East to West (mostly).

Oh, and make sure to mark which day you were there under the stamp! The blank spaces are year 年 – month 月 – day 日.

Should you visit castles in Japan?

If you are a history buff, or just like architecture, or have a hankering for some culture, I highly suggest you plan to see some of the 100 famous castles in Japan while you are in visiting. 

Or, why not collect them all?  My absolute favorite (and I’ve been to a lot of castles, see my current count on the homepage!) is Matsuyama Castle but it is a bit far being on Shikoku.

If it is your first trip and you haven’t been, Himeji Castle should be number one on your list.

Why? It’s one of the first UNESCO World Heritage sites. It’s also massive. You could easily spend two days and not see it all.

100 Famous Castles in Japan by Region

Ready to begin? While Japan is normally broken into more regions, the Japan Castle Association breaks it into 6, I’m assuming due to how the numbers played out or historical regions.

Without further ado, a complete list in English of the 100 famous castles in Japan as designated by the Japan Castle Foundation.

[Note: If castles interest you, I suggest checking back here often or subscribing to Kristen Abroad. As I write more I will be linking out to each individual post!]

Hokkaido and Tohoku Region

• Nemuro Peninsula Chashi Site (根室半島チャシ跡群) in Nemuro, Hokkaido
• Goryōkaku(五稜郭) in Hakodate, Hokkaido
• Matsumae Castle (松前城) in Matsumae, Hokkaido
• Hirosaki Castle (弘前城) in Hirosaki, Aomori
• Ne Castle (根城) in Hachinohe, Aomori
• Morioka Castle (盛岡城) in Morioka, Iwate
• Taga Castle (多賀城) in Tagajō , Miyagi
• Sendai Castle (仙台城) in Sendai, Miyagi
• Kubota Castle (久保田城) in Akita, Akita
• Yamagata Castle (山形城) in Yamagata, Yamagata
• Nihonmatsu Castle (二本松城) in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima
• Aizuwakamatsu Castle (会津若松城) in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima
• Shirakawa Komine Castle (白河小峰城) in Shirakawa, Fukushima

Kanto and Koshinetsu Regions

• Mito Castle (水戸城) in Mito, Ibaraki
• Ashikagashiyakata (足利氏館) now Banna Temple (鑁阿寺, Banna-ji) in Ashikaga, Tochigi
• Minowa Castle (箕輪城) in Takasaki, Gunma
• Kanayama Castle (金山城) in Ōta, Gunma
• Hachigata Castle (鉢形城) in Yorii, Saitama
• Kawagoe Castle (川越城) in Kawagoe, Saitama
• Sakura Castle (佐倉城) in Sakura, Chiba
• Edo Castle (江戸城) in Chiyoda, Tokyo
• Hachiōji Castle (八王子城) in Hachiōji, Tokyo
• Odawara Castle (小田原城) in Odawara, Kanagawa
• Tsutsujigasaki Castle (躑躅ヶ崎館) now Takeda Shrine（武田神社) in Kōfu, Yamanashi
• Kōfu Castle (甲府城) in Kōfu, Yamanashi
• Matsushiro Castle (松代城) in Nagano, Nagano
• Ueda Castle (上田城) in Ueda, Nagano
• Komoro Castle (小諸城) in Komoro, Nagano
• Matsumoto Castle (松本城) in Matsumoto, Nagano
• Takatō Castle (高遠城) in Ina, Nagano
• Shibata Castle (新発田城) in Shibata, Niigata
• Kasugayama Castle (春日山城) in Jōetsu, Niigata

Hokiriku and Tokai Region

• Takaoka Castle (高岡城) in Takaoka, Toyama
• Nanao Castle (七尾城) in Nanao, Ishikawa
• Kanazawa Castle (金沢城) in Kanazawa, Ishikawa
• Maruoka Castle (丸岡城) in Sakai, Fukui
• Ichijōdani Castle (一乗谷城) in Fukui, Fukui
• Iwamura Castle (岩村城 ) in Ena, Gifu
• Gifu Castle (岐阜城) in Gifu, Gifu
• Yamanaka Castle (山中城) in Mishima, Shizuoka
• Sunpu Castle (駿府城 ) in Shizuoka, Shizuoka
• Kakegawa Castle (掛川城) in Kakegawa, Shizuoka
• Inuyama Castle (犬山城 ) in Inuyama, Aichi
• Nagoya Castle (名古屋城) in Nagoya, Aichi
• Okazaki Castle(岡崎城) in Okazaki, Aichi
• Nagashino Castle (長篠城) in Shinshiro, Aichi
• Iga Ueno Castle (伊賀上野城) in Iga, Mie
• Matsusaka Castle (松阪城) in Matsusaka, Mie

Kansai/Kinki Region

• Odani Castle (小谷城) in Kohoku, Shiga
• Hikone Castle (彦根城) in Hikone, Shiga
• Azuchi Castle (安土城) in Ōmihachiman, Shiga
• Kannonji Castle (観音寺城) in Ōmihachiman, Shiga
• Nijō Castle (二条城) in Kyoto, Kyoto
• Osaka Castle (大坂城) in Osaka, Osaka
• Chihaya Castle (千早城) in Chihayaakasaka, Osaka
• Takeda Castle (竹田城) in Asago, Hyōgo
• Sasayama Castle (篠山城) in Sasayama, Hyōgo
• Akashi Castle (明石城) in Akashi, Hyōgo
• Himeji Castle (姫路城) in Himeji, Hyōgo
• Akō Castle (赤穂城) in Akō, Hyōgo
• Takatori Castle (高取城) in Takatori, Nara
• Wakayama Castle (和歌山城) in Wakayama, Wakayama

Chūgoku Region and Shikoku

• Tottori Castle (鳥取城) in Tottori, Tottori
• Matsue Castle (松江城) in Matsue, Shimane
• Gassantoda Castle (月山富田城 ) in Yasugi, Shimane
• Tsuwano Castle (津和野城) in Tsuwano, Shimane
• Tsuyama Castle (津山城) in Tsuyama, Okayama
• Bitchū Matsuyama Castle (備中松山城) in Takahashi, Okayama
• Kino Castle (鬼ノ城) in Sōja, Okayama
• Okayama Castle (岡山城) in Okayama, Okayama
• Fukuyama Castle (福山城) in Fukuyama, Hiroshima
• Kōriyama Castle (郡山城) in Akitakata, Hiroshima
• Hiroshima Castle (広島城) in Hiroshima, Hiroshima
• Iwakuni Castle (岩国城) in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Iwakuni
• Hagi Castle (萩城) in Hagi, Yamaguchi
• Tokushima Castle (徳島城) in Tokushima, Tokushima
• Takamatsu Castle (高松城) in Takamatsu, Kagawa
• Marugame Castle (丸亀城) in Marugame, Kagawa
• Imabari Castle (今治城) in Imabari, Ehime
• Yuzuki Castle (湯築城) in Matsuyama, Ehime
• Matsuyama Castle (松山城) in Matsuyama, Ehime
• Ōzu Castle (大洲城) in Ōzu, Ehime
• Uwajima Castle (宇和島城) in Uwajima, Ehime
• Kōchi Castle (高知城) in Kōchi, Kōchi

Kyūshū and Okinawa

• Fukuoka Castle (福岡城 ) in Fukuoka, Fukuoka
• Ōno Castle (大野城) in Daizafu, Fukuoka
• Nagoya Castle (名護屋城) in Karatsu, Saga
• Yoshinogari (吉野ヶ里) in Yoshinogari, Saga
• Saga Castle (佐賀城) in Saga, Saga
• Hirado Castle (平戸城) in Hirado, Nagasaki
• Shimabara Castle (島原城) in Shimabara, Nagasaki
• Kumamoto Castle (熊本城) in Kumamoto, Kumamoto
• Hitoyoshi Castle (人吉城) in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
• Ōita Funai Castle (大分府内城) in Ōita, Ōita
• Oka Castle (岡城 (豊後国)) in Taketa, Ōita
• Obi Castle (飫肥城) in Nichinan, Miyazaki
• Kagoshima Castle (鹿児島城) in Kagoshima, Kagoshima
• Nakijin Castle (今帰仁城) in Nakijin, Okinawa
• Nakagusuku Castle (中城城) in Kitanakagusuku, Okinawa
• Shuri Castle (首里城) in Naha, Okinawa

Continued 100 Famous Castles in Japan by Region

In case the first 100 famous castles in Japan weren’t enough for you, the Japan Castle Association has designated 100 more!

If that wasn’t in cahoots with the tourism industry, it should have been! Between the two, you’ve got a lot of options to add to your plans in Japan.

Some of them between the two lists are close together so I wanted to mention both. Plus, as I said up above check back often or subscribe as I will be updating this as I write more posts on the castles in Japan!

And don’t worry, there’s a book with stamp rally for these too (続日本１００名城公式ガイドブック (歴史群像シリーズ特別編集)).

Hokkaido and Tohoku Region

• Shinori Site (志苔館) in Hakodate, Hokkaido
• Kaminokuni Katsuyama Site (上ノ国勝山館) in Hiyama, Hokkaido
• Namioka Castle (浪岡城) in Aomori, Aomori
• Kunohe Castle (九戸城) in Ninohe, Iwate
• Shiroishi Castle (白石城) in Shiroishi, Miyagi
• Wakimoto Castle (脇本城) in Oga, Akita
• Akita Castle (秋田城) in Akita, Akita
• Tsurugaoka Castle (鶴ヶ岡城) in Tsuruoka, Yamagata
• Yonezawa Castle (米沢城) in Yonezawa, Yamagata
• Miharu Castle (三春城) in Tamura, Fukushima
• Mukaihaguroyama Castle (向羽黒山城) in Aizumisato, Fukushima

Kanto and Kōshinetsu Regions

• Kasama Castle (笠間城) in Kasama, Ibaraki
• Tsuchiura Castle (土浦城) in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki
• Karasawa Castle (唐沢山城) in Sano, Tochigi
• Nagurumi Castle (名胡桃城) in Tone, Gunma
• Numata Castle (沼田城) in Numata, Gunma
• Iwabitsu Castle (岩櫃城) in Agatsuma, Gunma
• Oshi Castle (忍城) in Gyōda, Saitama
• Sugiyama Castle (杉山城) in Hiki, Saitama
• Sugaya Yakata (菅谷館) in Hiki, Saitama
• Moto Sakura Castle (本佐倉城) in Inba, Chiba
• Ōtaki Castle (大多喜城) in Ōtaki, Chiba
• Takiyama Castle (滝山城) in Hachiōji, Tokyo
• *Shinagawa Daiba (品川台場) in Tokyo Bay, Tokyo
• Kozukue Castle (小机城) in Kōhoku-ku, Kanagawa
• Ishigakiyama Castle (石垣山城) in Odawara, Kanagawa
• Shinpu Castle (新府城) in Nirasaki, Yamanashi
• Yōgaiyama Castle (要害山城) in Kōfu, Yamanashi
• Tatsuoka Castle (龍岡城) in Saku, Nagano
• Takashima Castle (高島城) in Suwa, Nagano
• Murakami Castle (村上城) in Murakami, Niigata
• Takada Castle (高田城) in Jōetsu, Niigata
• Samegao Castle (鮫ヶ尾城) in Myōkō, Niigata

Hokuriku and Tokai Regions

• Toyama Castle (富山城) in Toyama, Toyama
• Masuyama Castle (増山城) in Tonami, Toyama
• Torigoe Castle (鳥越城) in Hakusan, Ishikawa
• Fukui Castle (福井城) in Fukui (city), Fukui
• Echizen Ōno Castle (越前大野城) in Ōno, Fukui
• Sagaki Kuniyoshi Castle (佐柿国吉城) in Mihama, Fukui
• Genbao Castle (玄蕃尾城) in Fukui, Shiga
• Gujō Hachiman Castle (郡上八幡城) in Gujō, Gifu
• Naegi Castle (苗木城) in Nakatsugawa, Gifu
• Mino Kaneyama Castle (美濃金山城) in Kani, Gifu
• Ōgaki Castle (大垣城) in Ōgaki, Gifu
• Kōkokuji Castle (興国寺城) in Numazu, Shizuoka
• Suwahara Castle (諏訪原城) in Shimada, Shizuoka
• Takatenjin Castle (高天神城) in Kakegawa, Shizuoka
• Hamamatsu Castle (浜松城) in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
• Komakiyama Castle (小牧山城) in Komaki, Gifu
• Furumiya Castle (古宮城) in Shinshiro, Aichi
• Yoshida Castle (吉田城) in Toyohashi, Aichi
• Tsu Castle (津城) in Tsu, Mie
• Tage Kitabatakeshi Jōkan (北畠館) in Tsu, Mie
• Tamaru Castle (田丸城) in Tamaki, Mie
• Akagi Castle (赤木城) in Kumano, Mie

Kansai/Kinki Region

• Kamaha Castle (鎌刃城) in Maibara, Shiga
• Hachimanyama Castle (八幡山城) in Yonago, Shiga
• Fukuchiyama Castle (福知山城) in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto
• Akutagawayama Castle (芥川山城) in Takatsuki, Osaka
• Iimoriyama Castle (飯盛山城) in Shijōnawate, Osaka
• Kishiwada Castle (岸和田城) in Kisiwada, Osaka
• Izushi Castle/Arikoyama Castle  (出石城・有子山城) in Toyooka, Hyōgo
• Kuroi Castle (黒井城) in Tanba, Hyōgo
• Sumoto Castle (洲本城) in Sumoto, Hyōgo
• Yamato Kōriyama Castle (大和郡山城) in Yamatokōriyama, Nara
• Uda Matsuyama Castle (宇陀松山城) in Uda, Nara
• Shingū Castle (新宮城) in Shingū, Wakayama

Chūgoku Region and Shikoku

• Wakasa Oniga Castle (若桜鬼ヶ城) in Wakasa, Tottori
• Yonago Castle (米子城) in Yonago, Tottori
• Hamada Castle (浜田城) in Hamada, Shimane
• Bitchu Takamatsu Castle (備中高松城) in Okayama, Ehime
• Mihara Castle (三原城) in Mihara, Hiroshima
• Niitakayama Castle (新高山城) in Mihara, Hiroshima
• Ōuchi-shi Yakata/Kōnomine Castle  (大内氏館・高嶺城) in Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi
• Shōzui Castle (勝瑞城) in Tokushima, Tokushima
• Ichinomiya Castle (一宮城) in Tokushima, Tokushima
• Hiketa Castle (引田城) in Higashikagawa, Kagawa
• Noshima Castle (能島城) in Imabari, Ehime
• Kagomori Castle (河後森城) in Kitauwa, Ehime
• Okō Castle (岡豊城) in Nankoku, Kōchi

Kyūshū and Okinawa

• Kokura Castle (小倉城) in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka
• Mizuki Castle (水城) in Dazaifu, Fukuoka
• Kurume Castle (久留米城) in Kurume, Fukuoka
• Kii Castle (基肄城) in Chikushino, Saga
• Karatsu Castle (唐津城) in Karatsu, Saga
• Kaneda Castle (金田城) in Tsushima, Nagasaki
• Fukue Castle(also know as Ishida Castle) (福江城・石田城) in Gotō, Nagasaki
• Hara Castle (原城) in Minamishimabara, Nagasaki
• Kikuchi Castle (鞠智城) in Kikuchi, Kumamoto
• Yatsushiro Castle (八代城) in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto
• Nakatsu Castle (中津城) in Nakatsu, Ōita
• Tsunomure Castle (角牟礼城) in Yatsushiro, Ōita
• Usuki Castle (臼杵城) in Usuki, Ōita
• Saiki Castle (佐伯城) in Saiki, Ōita
• Nobeoka Castle (延岡城) in Nobeoka, Miyazaki
• Sadowara Castle (佐土原城) in Miyazaki, Miyazaki
• Shibushi Castle (志布志城) in Shibushi, Kagoshima
• Chiran Castle (知覧城) in Minamikyūshū, Kagoshima
• Zakimi Castle (座喜味城) in Nakagami, Okinawa
• Katsuren Castle (勝連城) in Uruma, Okinawa

Other Castles in Japan

Don’t forget there used to be many more castles in Japan and while they may not have made the famous castles in Japan lists, there are still others out there. Like Chiba Castle, for instance, a quick day trip from Tokyo, and a reconstruction castle with a museum inside.

If you are looking for the list of others, I’ll eventually make one but for now, you can get this castle atlas that shows many more than just the 200 famous castles in Japan.

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They can not get enough of apples in Aomori Prefecture. Hirosaki as the largest apple producer in Japan, has a lot of tourism surrounding this tasty produce.  I present to you the Hirosaki Apple Park (弘前リンゴ公園), where you can meet your heart’s content of apples! 

In the area of 4 hectares lies about 2300 apple trees of nearly 80 different varieties, 30 of which you can pick, and others you can experience. But that’s not where these experiences stop.

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

1. Experience Apple Cultivation

With so many apple trees, there is a lot of work to be done! In spring, excess flowers need to be culled to reduce the burden on the tree so it will produce better fruit. As the fruit grows, bad looking fruit needs to be removed for the same reason. In fall, while the apples are truly coming into their own, leaves need to be removed to allow sunlight to filter through.

All of these things you can help with for a mini hands on lesson in farming at the orchard in Hirosaki Apple Park.

2. Go Apple picking

One of my favorite fall activities as a child was going apple picking with my family. We would drive out to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia to our favorite orchard and pick several bushels. Afterwards, we would have a picnic at Elizabeth Furnace where we’d go hiking for pig iron, play in the spring, and climb to the tops of trees.

Here at Hirosaki Apple Park (弘前リンゴ公園) you have the opportunity to create similar memories – but in Japan!

Here the season is open from the beginning of August through the end of November. The variety you pick will be dependent on what month you are visiting in. As a child we always seemed to go in October so I like the cooler air option!  

However, thanks to the change in latitude, the weather in Aomori was glorious even in August (when I was visiting) compared to the heat of the Tokyo region where I call home. 

Another difference from my childhood memories and Japan’s apple picking at Hirosaki Apple Park is the price! 330 yen/kg.  Produce can tend to be expensive in Japan, especially for the quality and this proves that. For the record, one kg is about 4 small apples so you still are getting quite a few to eat!

Early in the season, they do limit you to 5 apples to keep the harvest around. As such it can also be limited to 20-minutes. If you would like to go, meet at the “Apple House” to sign up.

3. Check out the view

Oddly enough, there is an artificial mountain in the middle of the Hirosaki Apple Park that was apparently built during the Edo period to practice cannons and guns. Of note, Hirosaki Castle isn’t really on a hill so I’m not sure where they were practicing for, other sieges? Honestly, depending on how good of a cannon it was, it would make it easier to hit Hirosaki!

Really I think that was just an excuse to have a great view of the surrounding mountains! There’s a lovely lookout to see Mt. Iwaki, the nearest stratovolcano that is referred to as Tsugaru (the region) Fuji do to the similarities in shape with Japan’s symbol, Mount Fuji.  Like Fuji though, even with the nicer weather, she was hiding behind some clouds while I was there.

That still left gorgeous views of the other areas though! Its about 85 meters high so you’ll get a bit of exercise with some fresh air while you are at it.

4. Raising potted apple trees

This one wins the prize for oddest option. As an effort to help tourists and citizens alike learn more about apple trees, they have a potted tree program. What’s that? Well, you can submit an application for them to “lend” you a tree. So you can see how it flowers and grows!

Depending on the amount of trees and other factors, they may not be able to accommodate your request but it’s there, nonetheless!

5. Visit the old farmhouse

The former residence was built some 140 years ago in Gotanda. Not exactly close to Hirosaki but of the same architecture that you would see in this area.  To help preserve the heritage, it was disassembled and restored at the Hirosaki Apple Park. 

In 平成 13 (Heisei 13 = 2001 depending on the time of year), it was named a cultural property of the city. You can walk around the tatami mats in your bare feet and imagine what it would be like all that time ago.  You can also see the equipment they used forever and a day ago on farms and be glad you aren’t doing hard labor.

If you are like me and love historical buildings, don’t worry, Hirosaki has a lot of them in both western and samurai form!

6. Have a snack at the restaurant

If you would like some apple infused products, now’s as good a time as any to try some! Located inside the “Apple House”, which is the main facility on the property and therefore it’s hard to miss! And if for some reason you can’t get your fill there are always plenty of options for apple curry, soft cream (what Japan calls soft serve ice cream), and apple pie back in the more dense areas of town.

7. You can’t go anywhere in Japan without getting some omiyage

Inside the Apple House, off in the corner you’ll find the りんごグッズ販売コーナー. Which in English translates as “Apple Goods Selling Corner”, Japan is super clever with names sometimes! They made me laugh.

There are around 1200 different items for sale, all revolving around apples!  Plenty of local crafts and products to choose from including my favorite, cider. 

8. Taste some Cider

While you could buy some cider at the store, how about walking back out towards the entrance and visiting a cidery? It’s actually the reason I went to Hirosaki Apple Park in the first place, Kimori Cidre, and I give you all the details in another post. 

9. Join in the festivals

In May there is the Hirosaki Apple Flower Festival which has all sorts of events including the giant pie that I mentioned when writing about the Hirosaki Apple pies that you must try!

Miss that one? In September is the Apple Harvest Festival at Hirosaki Apple Park, and don’t worry, they do the giant pie thing there too! Both have food and drinks, as well as much entertainment so if you are up north in Aomori during either month it might be a good time to swing by!

No giant pies as far as I can see but there are also summer and winter festivals in the Hirosaki Apple Park.

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

Access

Wondering how to get to Hirosaki in general? I’ve got you covered there with a quick weekend itinerary for Aomori including Hirosaki! It’s a very easy trip up from Tokyo, especially if you are using the JR rail pass.

If you are staying in Hirosaki and are like me and like to get your exercise when you are out exploring, it’s a nice walk to the park.  Be forewarned: It is a bit far if you’re not in the mood for walking or the weather isn’t on your side. 

The 100 yen buses do run out that way though so make sure you use one of my best tips for trips around Japan and check out the tourism information booth once you get into town. You’ll be able to see the 100 yen bus routes and get an idea for the schedule. From Hirosaki Train Station they run about every 10 minutes.

For a little more confidence, you can read this guide about using buses in Japan for tips. Personally, when I first got to Japan they made me super nervous!

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For what may be the best I’ve ever had, you must try this Japanese curry in Hirosaki! カレーとコーヒーかわしま (Curry and Coffee Kawashima) has been in business in Hirosaki since 1973 (!). You can’t get more mom and pop than 45+ years of Japanese curry perfection.

You also can’t talk about the curry shop without the street it is apart of, Dotemachi has been around since castle times!

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

Dotemachi (土手町) History

As you’ll see in a second, Japan’s names stick around for a long time. They also to someone that doesn’t speak the language sound very eloquent when really they are very straight forward names. But much as we English speakers tend to forget when some of our road names make sense, I’ve pointed out how names translate to English to my Japanese friends and they laugh and say they’ve never thought about it that way.

To this day, addresses in Japan utilize the “town” as a pinpoint, including how to locate Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま) on a map. You don’t label the street, you label the blocks within a 町 or “machi” which means town. However, not as in a town as we think of it. Imagine if you will the “downtown” area of a small town. It’s on Main Street but not all of Main Street.

Towns, in this case, are more areas. Over here were the butchers, over there were the blacksmiths, etc.

So what’s Dotemachi mean (besides the “town” part at the end)? 土手 or “dote”, means bank as in the bank of a river (it can also be a type of stew but I digress). When Hirosaki Castle was being built, gee, 400+ years ago, this was the only way into the castle from the east. The embankment part comes from the thought that there was one such feature installed along the Tobuchi River that it crosses.

It’s been a merchant area since 1685 (!!!).

Dotemachi Shopping Street (土手町商店街)

This shopping arcade has been around since the early 1960s and is so large that each region has it’s own promotion association and is split up into its own information, even though they are all kind of the same.

• Kamidotemachi shotengai (上土手町商店街)
• Nakadotemachi shotengai (中土手町商店街）
• Shitadotemachi shotengai (下土手町商店街）

Notice the similarities? The first words are kami, naka, and shita. Which translates to upper, middle, and lower and 商店街 is “Shotengai” and means shopping street.

Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま) is located within Kamidotemachi shotengai. So it’s in the “upper” embankment town shopping street.

Shopping streets are great little windows into history and where you’ll find the lively areas of town much of the time. Something to check out!

It’s common to have street art in areas of shopping districts (and towns in general, think of all the apples!) but this one is what I was jokingly called “little kid feet” street.

Why are there tiles with children’s footprints on the street in Hirosaki?

This is the question that I kept repeating as I was walking through the shopping arcade. It seemed like an interesting choice of art work. Was it a memorial? Something else?

As part of the Nakadote Town Street Improvement Project back in 2010, along with replacing the arcade (the “umbrella” to the walkway), they installed a snow melting system into the sidewalk. With such, they wanted to have not only somewhere that was safe but something that represented the area. They ran a lottery in which almost 600 children from ages 0 to 6 entered. The qualification is that your family came from the region.

As such, 100 of them were chosen and now you have “little kid feet” (子供の足型, kodomo no ashigata, children’s footprint) street on your way to have some great Japanese curry in Hirosaki. It’s a cute meaning of “let’s walk into the future together with our new sidewalk!”.

Wooden signs along Shopping Street

Make sure you also look up at all of the wooden signs along the street. They represent the businesses and are a nice touch of different art in the land of apple artwork (and children’s footprints).

Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま)

I bet you never thought I would get to talking about the curry! It’s well worth the wait and I think the little bits of history are fascinating. Keep your eyes open while you’re out around, even in your own town! You never know what you’ll newly discover.

Takeshi Takahashi opened Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま) when he was 25 back in 1973. Now a family affair with his wife and son, they cook the curry 15 hours each and every day, heating up the order when placed.  And though some of the suppliers have changed over the years, they’ve kept to the original recipe as much as possible (source). 

All are served with pickled condiments (漬物, tsukemono in Japanese) that are usual to have with Japanese curry.  Ginger, pearl onions, and radish which they also make themselves. Pickling is a big thing in Japan – I’ve love to learn how to make some homemade!

Curry and Coffee Kawashima: The menu

The quintessential Japanese curry is slightly on the sweeter side (unless you go to Coco Ichibanya where you can up the anty spice wise).

At Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま) you have a choice of three levels for the Japanese curry which comes with a piece of pork.

• カレーライス, curry rice, this is the normal level
• ホットカレー（辛い), Hot curry (yes, ホット, hotto is “hot”) and 辛い is pronounced “karai” for spicy, just in case you missed the intent of the “hot” I suppose
• Ｗホットカレー（超辛). Japan uses several singular letter abbreviations and “w” is one of them. As we pronounce it “double u”… yes, it means “double”. So this is double hot curry or 超辛 (cho-kara, super spicy) as they also state on the menu.

It doesn’t stop there though for toppings. You can also have cheese, katsu (fried pork), ebi-fry (think one giant shrimp) or just normal small shrimp, fried scallops, potato, egg (fried egg on top or they also have omelet style), hamburger and others. Get the set meal for a side salad and coffee or juice to be included.

The name is Curry and Coffee Kawashima so you can bet there is also coffee! The blend coffee has been the same since the day they opened. More on Japan’s cafe’s later! Get the coffee if for no other reason to see them make it from a very cool siphon apparatus.

Curry and Coffee Kawashima (カレーとコーヒーかわしま): The price

The set which comes with a basic salad and coffee or juice was 1100 yen at the time of my partaking. For lunches and even dinner, look for the word “定食” or “teishoku” (set meal) and you normally can’t go wrong! 

Figuring as the price started nearly 50 years ago at 100 yen, that hasn’t changed much over the years either! The other menu options range in price from about 700 to 1200 yen so this isn’t going to break the bank and the portions are HUGE. 

I felt like I didn’t need to eat for two days afterward.  If for some reason, the normal size isn’t large enough, you can have them add extra rice.

How to find カレーとコーヒーかわしま

A mere 10 minutes on foot from JR Hirosaki Station, but don’t forget to check out the rest of the shopping street. You can also find some of the apple pie stores around here. Curry and Coffee Kawashima is on the second floor and the sign is in Japanese so look out for “カレーとコーヒーかわしま”. 

Other Japanese Curry in Hirosaki

There are plenty of local Hirosaki specialties to try while you are visiting Hirosaki Castle or any of the number of other local area attractions like the apple park or Neputa village, among others. However, this is apple country after all and if you haven’t yet gotten your fill with apple pie, and cider, there’s another type of Japanese curry in Hirosaki you should try – the apple curry!

There are several locations in town that have it, just look for “りんご” (Japanese for apple) and “カレー” (curry) on the menu together.

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

Apple Curry (りんごカレー) to-go

If you didn’t get to try apple curry while in town, they come in packets from a local store called Iwakiya! Hirosaki puts apples in everything, not just apple pie and your delicious hard ciders but also in Japanese curry in Hirosaki!

Retort packets (I just learned they were called that recently) are available in all different styles of curry across Japan. And very much like ramen, you can find local varieties or special edition “just like the store” versions.

For Iwakiya apple curry, you get the roux in which you can use to cook with. There are instructions on the packet for what ingredients to add.

What’s your best mom & pop find?

Let me know in the comments :).

When you are in Japan’s apple country, you find a cidery.  While Hirosaki boasts the highest apple production in the country, it has only recently come into producing craft hard cider in Japan. Hirosaki’s climate is perfect for apple production. Ample water from the snow-covered mountains fills the river with beautiful tasting water.  Kimori Cidre uses the handpicked local fruit to produce its cider and is one of several cider makers you can visit in Hirosaki. 

[Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August of 2018 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.]

History of Cider in Japan

Most people might think of Mitsuya Cider when they think of cider in Japan. A clear soft drink that frankly is fantastic and one of my favorite (and only) sodas that I drink. However, we’re talking hard cider here. Something that as an American I didn’t grow to like much until I had drier versions at a local cidery in the Blue Ridge Mountains and solidified my love after a trip to England.

For the record, you more generally will see the French romanization as “Cidre” vs. the English “Cider” while looking for cider in Japan.

In the early 1950’s one of the local sake brewing presidents was visiting America and Europe and noticed the sparkling cider businesses and thought it was a good idea. As a collaboration with Asahi, they started sales in 昭和 31年. Showa 31 = 1955 or thereabouts depending on the time of year, Asahi puts the release of the first cider in Japan in 1956. Later, Nikka Whiskey Co., Ltd., took over the business and is much of the hard cider you see in convenience stores around Japan.

In 2014, Hirosaki City was certified as a ハウスワインシードル特区 (House Wine Cider Special Zone) which made it easier for “craft” cider to emerge, and one of the first was Hirosaki Cider Koubou Kimori.

Side note: Did you know that June 3rd is World Cider Day?

弘前シードル工房Kimori

Conveniently co-located within the Hirosaki Apple Park is 弘前シードル工房Kimori (Hirosaki Cider Studio Kimori). The label goes by “Kimori Cidre” so it’s easy to abbreviate to “Kimori”.

Founder Satoshi Takahashi launched the cidery in 2014 after an idea to use the “left over” apples that could not be sold as fruit. If you’ve been to a Japanese grocery store, you may have noticed the impeccable conditions!

What is the meaning of Kimori?

There is a Japanese practice that feels very ingrained in Shinto tradition that is to leave a fruit on the tree at the end of the harvest. It’s like an offering to the gods to thank them for a good harvest and hope for a bountiful harvest the next year.

木守り (kimori) Noun 1. fruits left on a tree during winter (supposedly causing more fruits to appear in the next season)​

jisho.org

The maker of Kimori took this as part of the name as a way of honoring the past and looking towards the future and I think that’s really beautiful.

Kimori Cidre Tasting Room

Tastings are 300 yen apiece. When I first went to Kimori, there were three ciders to pick from.  Sweet, green and dry.  The sweet and the green are good “porch drinks” as I like to call them.  3% alcohol and you could enjoy them all day, relaxing the summer away.  They must have been too similar because now they no longer have the “green” option.

The dry is a little higher but nothing to write home about at 6%.  And for 300 yen, they aren’t bad pours.

Bonus? The staff told us that these are completely all-natural products.  Simply pressed apple and yeast, not even water is added!  It is then unfiltered so it is not as clear as some other cider products you may have had in the past.

How to get to Kimori Cidre Tasting Room

You are in luck and you don’t have to search google like a mad man like me. The tasting room (and cidery for that matter), is in a nondescript white building before you get to the main parking lot of the apple park.

Set back into the apple orchard, it is very relaxing. There are several indoor seats as well as some more outside on the porch. They even had a swing set up when I was there!

Personally, I walked (I’m used to long walks with my commute in Japan) to try out Kimori Cidre but there is also the 100 yen loop bus that hits the major tourist attractions every 10 minutes!

Hirosaki Cidre Map: Where to find local cider in Hirosaki

The tourism board of Hirosaki likes maps, and I thank them for it! It makes it very easy when you are planning your trip around a new city in Japan! It’s a great way to find similar activities and makes for a fun game – this is the land of got to catch them all, isn’t it?!

As the Apple Pie Guide Map covers the basic needs of sweets and delicious snacks, for a more adult pallet and a refreshing afternoon beverage, there is also the Hirosaki Cidre Map.

There are over 60 stores and restaurants selling local cider in Hirosaki.

4 Different Local Ciders to try in Hirosaki

In total, you have four different companies making cider in the area. Each has a few selections to try ranging from very sweet to dry.

• A-FACTORY
• 弘前シードル工房kimori (my favorite, Hirosaki Cider Koubou kimori)
• ニッカウヰスキー (Nikka Whiskey, the original and you can find it around Japan in convenience stores)
• タムラファーム (Tamura Farms)

I tried each of the different brands of cider while in Hirosaki.  Kimori Cidre was definitely the best! I don’t normally like sweet cider but this one was light and refreshing.  The dry is delicious and would pair well with food.

Can’t make it to Aomori? If you are in the greater Tokyo region, you can find Kimori Cidre locally in Yokohama.  If you haven’t tried it, give it a whirl!

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

シードルの辞典 (Cider Encyclopedia)

If you are like me and trying to up your Japanese abilities, one of the recommended options for reading is to find something you want to read. If that means cider for you, The Japan Cider Master Association has you covered with the Cider Encyclopedia.

How to find cider in Japan

While this post stems from experiences in Japan’s apple country while I was on a trip to Aomori, the cider scene is growing in Japan. Not just from an importer front but also for Japan ciders.

One great resource is my friend Lee and company over at inCiderJapan. You can find their magazine at many bars offering cider around the country – it’s the first of its kind! (And don’t worry, it’s bilingual).

Other Apple Regions of Japan

Of course, apples tend to grow in a colder climate. Some of the other big regions are Nagano and Yamagata, however, there are locations all over Japan that make cider!

For that, there is this handy map by the Japan Cider Master Association. The letters are where some of the festivals take place, the apple trees are obviously orchards (that also make cider) and then the barrels are all brewers!

There is also the Far East Cider Association doing good work in the name of cider.

Big brands of cider in Japan

While not all of the big brands (looking at you, Sapporo) have jumped on the cider bandwagon, Kirin, Asahi (with the help of the aforementioned Nikka), and Suntory all have cider options available. The best option for finding them is at your local convenience store in Japan or コンビニ (konbini).

If you are close to apple-making regions, you’ll generally be able to find local brands as well but will have less luck further away.

How to search on Google for cider in Japan

If you are looking for cider while around Japan, it’s possible to have some luck Googling “Cider” and “city you are in”. The better bet is to use the Japanese words, for instance looking for cider in Matsumoto (a must-visit location for Matsumoto castle among other things), “シードル” (Japanese katakana spelling of cider) and ”松本” gives you far more options than just searching in English.

English Pubs

Another option? Find an English pub. In Yokohama, my favorite is Full Monty. Clive, Kae, and the rest of the staff are amazing and they have a great selection of ciders, as well as local beers and imports. Top it off with Kae’s ever-revolving food selections are to die for.

Cider Festivals in Japan

Lastly, there are cider festivals around Japan so keep that as an open option as well! There is a series of シードルコレクション (Cider Collection) events but look out for smaller events as well. If Japan is good at one thing, it’s definitely festivals.

Have you tried Japan’s cider yet? Or is beer or whiskey more your thing? Let me know in the comments!

When I told my coworkers that I was going to Aomori, they lit up and asked if I was going to the Neputa Festival.  The what?  They quickly pulled it up on Google as one of the four largest festivals of the region known as Tsugaru.  However, the festival was the weekend before I was going.  However, where there’s a festival, many times you can find a festival museum! Thanks to the crazy travel required to get to Takayama Inari Shrine, I had some time to kill in Goshogawara. Always look for tourist centers in Japan! The kind lady pointed me to the 立佞武多の館 (Tachineputa no yakata, Tachineputa Museum). 

The cultural regions of Aomori

Aomori is made of up three distinct regions: Tsugaru, Nanbu and Shimokita. Each having a slightly different cultural aspect and lifestyle based off climate and historical differences. That includes dialect and why you see 佞武多 spelled “nebuta” or “neputa”.

Tsugara consists of Aomori and Hirosaki as it’s larger cities and includes as well Goshogawara. If you get hungry after the Tachineputa museum, make sure to try out some of the local Tsugara cuisine.

Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival

The Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival, along with Aomori Nebuta Festival, Hirosaki Neputa Festival, and Kuroishi Yosare Festival, are all considered Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property by the Japanese government. They are also the most known and considered “The big 4” of the Tsugaru region.

The festival in Goshogawara takes place every year from August 4-8th in which 15 massive floats “Tachineputa” take over the city. Some 23-meter tall and weighing a whopping 19 tons!! The float carriers and dancers shout “Yattemare! Yattemare!”, which translates into a sort of “let’s do it!”, as they spend two hours every night of the festival hauling these monstrosities around the city.

So What’s a Neputa or Nebuta?

There are a lot of theories. Deter invading clans, a long forgotten Shinto practice or some think it descended from a festival from China. Where the romanized version normally writes it as “nebuta”, the dialect has it as “Neputa” (unless you’re in Aomori and they use the “b”), the sound is very similar in Japanese.

The Nebuta are sometimes small, sometimes quite large paper lantern floats that get paraded around the city.   Outlawed frequently in the past due to fire risk as they were lit up by candles.  Now with modern technology and electricity, it’s slightly easier to not catch them on fire.

As I like to break down the kanji, 佞武多 is sort of interesting pieces. “Insincerity”, “warrior” and “many”. Makes you wonder who came up with that combination or what exactly it’s talking about.

Tachineputa Museum (立佞武多の館)

Goshogawara has unique nebuta.  “Tachi” means stand, and stand these do.  There are three of the festival floats housed in the giant 5 story tall Tachineputa-no-Yakata museum (how to pronounce Tachineputa museum in Japanese). I saw a few others being put into warehouses by the station as well!

Fun fact: 館 or “Yakata” actual is more like a “big building” or even “mansion”. Where was I understand the use of the word museum, I think it would be much more fun that the floats are “living in a mansion”.

Walk yourself around the spiraled slope that wraps the entire building. You get to see every angle for the three housed inside. There is also an film to show you the feeling of the festival itself that runs about once every hour.

I’m sure seeing the festival with its flute and taiko resonating through the city would be amazing, but to be able to be eye to eye with the very top of these feats of engineering (because they really are), is something else.

If seeing the floats wasn’t enough for you, for an extra fee you can create a small goldfish neputa to take home with you! The entrance to the museum is 650 yen for the exhibition hall and 300 yen for the art museum where you can learn more about the detail.  A combined ticket is 850 yen — always look for combo deals on entrance fees in Japan! 

Getting to the Museum

If you are following my itinerary for a weekend trip in Aomori, this will be one of your stops. The festival and this museum take place in a super small town so it’s unlikely you’ll pass through unless you are meaning to go! From JR Goshogawara Station it’s a super easy walk. Don’t worry, you’ll see the building, it’s the tallest around.

Festival or Museum?

If you’re in Japan during that time, try and make the trip!  Else, know that you can enjoy these beautiful pieces of art year round at the Tachineputa Museum.

What’s one of your favorite Japanese cultural events?

Pin this for later.

I’ve been known to go crazy distances for a day trip.  My most is probably 5 or 6 hours, one way. Sometimes you only have a day and need to make the most of it. Carpe Diem, as they say; possibly my favorite aphorism.  That being said, there is definitely enough in Aomori to keep you busy for a weekend, if not longer. Make sure you take full advantage of this jam packed itinerary for an Aomori weekend trip from Tokyo or wherever you may be heading from!

Aomori is more “country” compared to many places you may see in Japan. A meager 1.37 million call the prefecture home.  For comparison, Tokyo Prefecture has over 13 million (and the largest metropolitan population in the world at 38 million). Even Kyoto city has more that 1.4 million residents.  If you want to get away from the crowds, this might be your place!

Famous for several festivals through out the year, UNESCO World Heritage Site Shirakami Sanchi, beautiful nature and owner of one of the original 12 castles, there’s plenty to see and do.  If you like Japanese culture, there’s plenty of it.

Disclosure: Kristenabroad.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and other affiliate programs. For some links to products or services in this article, I may earn a small commission by you using my link.  The price for you is not affected.

Getting to Aomori – Train or Plane?

You have a couple of options for your Aomori Weekend Trip from Tokyo. Japan Airlines (JAL) runs regional service to Aomori multiple times a day.  However, in this case, you have the opportunity to take the fastest shinkansen Japan has. I highly recommend it. Both time wise and for the views! Just think, no security to get on the platform, no recommended 2 hours pre-arrival, plus the bragging rights that you’ve been on the Hayabusa! If you are coming from other areas of Japan, feel free to reach out to me for recommendations, I’m happy to help!

Money wise (as of this update in April 2020) whether going by train or plane for residents is about the same. But if you are in Japan on a visitor visa and have the Japan Rail Pass, this route is covered! Not only that, if you are sticking to JR East (which this is on), you can get the cheaper JR East pass.  This trip alone will have your rail pass “pay for itself”. Take it.  And enjoy the lovely country side while you’re at it.

Shinkansen Tips

Side note, where as going south towards Kyoto and Osaka from Tokyo there are shinkansen running nearly constantly, there are much fewer going north.  The Hayabusa does not have non-reserved seats and has very few standing tickets. These are train car specific and it’s not cramped, but it is super hard to eat a train bento standing!

I recommend getting your tickets early so you don’t have to adjust your plans unexpectedly. You can also take the Hayate Train to Shin-Aomori Station but it is much slower due to it stopping at more locations. The best way to check routes, in my opinion, is to use the hyperdia app.

Climate in Aomori Prefecture

Aomori is the furthest north prefecture on 本州 (Honshu), or “mainland” Japan. Located in 東北 (Tohoku, literally north-east) region in Japan, it is a trek from most of the high popularity tourist areas. 

While average summer in Tokyo is 26-31 degrees celsius (need help converting Celsius to Fahrenheit?), Aomori averages at a nice 23.  It does get warm in the sun but the undertones of air are much cooler.  

Thinking of heading up in the winter? While the 2019-2020 season was unusually lacking in the snow department, Aomori City (the capital of the prefecture) is on record for the snowiest city not just in Japan but the world. Expect cold temperatures and plan accordingly. I for one would love to see the giant snow tunnels!

Just remember, it’s surprisingly at a much higher latitude than you expect (even with Madrid, Rome, Beijing and New York) so be prepared.

Aomori Prefecture Weekend Trip from Tokyo Itinerary

As I mentioned, there is TONS to do, so here’s one example to help you research your trip to Aomori Japan. If you need even more suggestions, Aomori Tourist Information is a treasure trove of information. 

Most all of the links below are to my specific posts (and if they aren’t yet, they will be!) on each step of the way for you, including how to get there, how much it costs, etc.! Enjoy!

Friday

Head up to Shin-Aomori Station on the hayabusa shinkansen and get to your hotel.  I suggest staying close to the train station.  There are a fair amount of options and many are not that expensive.  Don’t forget the train bento! It’s a required experience.

Saturday

As the main leg is down, take the train over Goshogawara and check out the Tachineputa Museum.  Check on the bus schedule (and if you need help can check my guide out on how to ride the bus) before hand so you can time the 45 minutes ride over to Takayama Inari Shrine for 200+ torii gates and a nice easy hike.

Afterwards, take the local train down to Hirosaki for your next overnight stay.  There is a liner option that I would love to take next time! Check out the schedule early.

The castle town of Hirosaki is a large by Aomori standards and is the third largest city in the prefecture. With roughly 170K residents, it has a surprising number of dining options. I recommend you find some of the yummy Tsugaru local cuisine! And don’t forget about apple pie for dessert.

Sunday

First things first, cider. It’s 5 oclock somewhere, right? Hirosaki is famous for their apples and is even called “Apple City”. Head to Hirosaki Apple Park to pick some apples and on your way back to town, check out the tasting room in Kimori Cidre, sit on the swing below the apple trees and enjoy a nice refreshing drink.

Once back in town, head over to Hirosaki Castle, one of the 12 important cultural property castles that remain in it’s original form.  Or at least the keep does!  There is an indigo factory close to Hirosaki park you can check out or if you didn’t get enough nebuta from the day before, head over to the Nebuta Village.  Enjoy a live performance of taiko drums and traditional Japanese stringed “guitar”. Can you see the difference of style lantern for Hirosaki’s own festival?

For a late lunch, there is lots of yummy Japanese style curry, including apple curry!  If mom and pop is your thing, I have just the place in mind for you at Curry and Coffee Kawashima.

After a day well spent, head back over to Aomori and back down on the shinkansen to Tokyo.

Side note: Japanese Mascots are the best

Your Aomori Weekend Trip results

I hope this itinerary serves you well and you have a great time in Aomori! It’s hard for me to choose my favorite prefecture in Japan having been to all 47 but Aomori has a charm about it that I really enjoy. It deserves more time than just a weekend. You could easily spread this particular itinerary out longer.

As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Already been to Aomori?  Let me know about your trip in the comments!