Not all of the 100 finest castles of Japan are still intact castles. Sometimes all that remains are just really awesome foundations. Or just earthworks like Takaoka. Little remains of Tottori Castle Ruins, however, it does boast one of the original gates. Located on the eastern side of Tottori, the capital of Tottori Prefecture, the castle was built in 1532 and last served by the Ikeda clan.
Make your way up and over the castle wall foundations of the lower baileys and imagine what it use to be like with the palace structures in tact.
200 Day Seige of Tottori Castle
Tottori Castle is famous for being the location of a 200 (!!!) day siege. Everyone inside the castle slowly ran out of provisions and they were even starting to look towards cannibalism to survive – eek! Can you imagine?! As part of the surrender, the castle lord from the Kikkawa Clad had to commit suicide.
Where was the main keep of Tottori castle?
So where was the actual castle? Or what people tend to think of “the castle” in Japan – the main keep! It can be confusing with the different bailey structures that make up a Japanese castle. The original keep structure was WAY up on the hill, or should I say, Mount Kyusho. If you like and have the time, there are hiking trails to take you to the top. Didn’t end up so well of a location as in 1692 it was hit by lightning and burned.
There are two hiking trails to get you to honmaru or where the castle keep used to be. One will take an hour and one is an hour 20 minutes. There is also a trail to the neighboring mountain that was involved with the siege and is now a nationally designated historic site.
They didn’t bother rebuilding it and then a couple of decades later they lost a huge chunk of buildings to another fire. After taking the time to rebuild some of those buildings, including the ninomaru palace, it got hit by the “one castle one providence” rule from the Meiji era reforms and was destroyed.
The city is working on various projects to restore some of Tottori castle.
Best Cherry Blossom viewing
Japanese castles were giant complexes and took up a lot of space with different tiers of buildings. Similar and different from ones I’ve seen elsewhere in the world. One thing the city of Tottori has done is planted hundreds of Cherry Blossom, or Sakura 桜, trees in amongst the Tottori castle ruins making a great spot to have hanami in the spring.
Where do you get the stamp?
Stamp? Yes, Japan is full of “Stamp Rallies“. In the land of Pokemon, you can find a number of things “to catch them all”. Castles being no different. Between the 100 finest books, there
The good thing? “Stamp” is a borrowed word in this case and therefore in katakana. If you are having trouble finding them, ask for “城のスタンプ” (shi-
Tottori is in ruins so you’ll need to go to Jinpukaku, the stately white building built on the grounds to collect your stamp. It’s a cool side trip in and of itself, it was the first building in the prefecture to have electricity!
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Have you gotten your 100 finest castle book yet?
Visiting Tottori Castle Ruins
The best way for getting around Tottori City is to utilize the 100 yen bus. However, the castle ruins are also not a far walk from the train station. Getting your walk on in Japan is almost a rite of passage.
What’s your favorite?
Do you have a favorite castle? Leave me a note in the comments so I can check it out!
