The Quest to 200 Begins: Conquering Inuyama Castle

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Name: Inuyama Castle

Location: Inuyama city, Aichi prefecture

Date of Visit: August 8, 2023

“I’m going to be absent from the lesson next week. I’m visiting Toyama castle in Toyama prefecture! Do you know it?”

This was the question posed to me by one of my students as we briefly chatted before his English lesson started. I had heard of Toyama, though I knew next to nothing about it, apart from its location in Japan. Living in Nagoya, it was basically a straight shot northward, through the mountains of Gifu prefecture. Because of the distance and mountainous terrain, trains (my preferred method of transportation) were fairly infrequent and relatively expensive.

The student continued, “I’m visiting the 100 famous castles of Japan. I’ve been to over 80 so far!” This was my introduction to the 100 fine castles of Japan, a list of 100 castles selected by the Japanese Castle Association in 2006. Every one of Japan’s 47 prefectures contained at least one castle on the list. I would later learn that in 2016, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the list by adding another 100 castles.

“Sounds interesting,” I responded. “Maybe I’ll check it out.” Famous last words.

Some time later, in August of 2023, my parents made their first trip to Japan to see me. We had our tearful reunion. We went to the typical touristy venues and did typical touristy things. I impressed my parents with my mangled Japanese. We somehow survived the sweltering heat. Before leaving for a brief stay in Kyoto, I recommended visiting the city of Inuyama. “It has an adorable castle town. And the castle itself is the original structure, as opposed to a rebuilt or renovated one like Nagoya castle!” I excitedly explained to my parents.

In the end, only my mother accompanied me to the castle, as my father’s legs were acting up, which caused him significant pain while climbing stairs. We walked past numerous shops and stalls in the castle town, but we arrived at a rather inopportune time between lunch and dinner, meaning many of the shops were closed for a few hours. Far fewer people were out and about. On the weekends, I had seen throngs of people strolling along the streets. Couples holding hands in kimonos, students chattering excitedly, elderly people slowly shuffling along; it seemed like a microcosm of Japan at a whole. But to reiterate: it was pretty dead during my mother’s visit. Maybe it was the ungodly heat keeping everyone indoors within a meter of the AC.

As we approached the castle, my mother stopped in a souvenir shop to peruse their wares and ask me about the rickshaw stand outside. After a brief bit of shopping, we started climbing the stairs which led to the castle. The path was relatively steep, with no benches to stop and rest at on the way up. While I’m not in amazing shape, I had spent nearly 18 months in Japan at that time, so I had gotten pretty used to walking. Plus, I’m still relatively young. My mother did not possess such advantages.

“Oh, sweetie,” I remember her saying as we slowly climbed the slope. “There’s no way your father would be able to do this.” I completely agreed as I was unsure if even I could survive the climb.

The entrance to Haritsuna Shrine, at the base of the castle

But we made it and after buying our tickets, we walked through the gates into the courtyard of the castle. The courtyard itself had very little greenery, with most of the ground being covered in tiny, grey pebbles. Looking back towards the entrance, we could see a small gift shop selling various knick-knacks and other Inuyama goods. More importantly, it was selling ice-cream and soda. My mother and I elected to rest in the one of the few patches of shade that hadn’t yet been occupied by another visitor. As I recall, our spot was located near a fan which blasted out a refreshing mixture of cool air and mist.

Inuyama castle is one of the oldest standing castles in Japan, with experts estimating that the tenshukaku (the highest tower, usually the main keep) to have been built around the late 1580s. However, other records indicate that some castle has been located at the site since at least the year 1000, possibly earlier. Because of this, it has been dedicated as a National Treasure of Japan. The current keep is said to have been constructed by Oda Nobukatsu, son of the warlord who nearly succeeded in unifying Japan Oda Nobunaga. Prior to this, it was one of the final fortifications seized by Nobunaga as he attempted to unify the Owari Province (modern Nagoya and parts of Gifu). Ownership of the castle was passed around by Nobunaga and his initial successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, before finally being given to the Naruse clan by the victorious Tokugawa Ieyasu, after the Battle of Sekigahara. It remained in control by the Naruse family until the late 1800s, when it was seized by the Meiji government. Ownership was eventually returned to the Naruses, who acted once again as castellans until as recently as 2004. At that time, the family turned ownership of the castle over to a nonprofit organization, who officially opened it to the public.

Outside of the Tenshukaku. Notice the unique 4-level structure as opposed to 3 levels.

Onto the castle itself. After regaining our stamina and wiping what felt like liters of sweat, we proceeded towards the entrance. In order to help preserve the structure, visitors are instructed to remove their shoes before entering, something which isn’t terribly uncommon in Japan. After climbing the extremely steep stairs, we were met with the castles stone foundation. Banking a right to climb more stairs, we entered the first floor of the castle. The castle, like many others, has a small museum on the inside, displaying samurai armor, artifacts, and scrolls relating to Inuyama Castle. English explanations are limited, but the real enjoyment from this castle comes from admiring the history of the tenshkaku itself. It’s simply breathtaking to stand in a structure that is nearly 500 years old; almost twice the age of my own country! We made our way around the first floor, reading about how the area below would be used to store munitions and rations in the event of a seige, before ascending to the second level.

Inuyama Castle’s second floor is even more sparsely decorated than the first, but it does feature an interesting model of the structure of the tower itself. We continued climbing to the top floor. The highest floor of Inuyama Castle is quite different from the others in that it is a single room with elegant red carpet underfoot. Around the top of the room are various portraits of the previous castellans, many of them members of the Naruse clan. Exiting this room leads one onto the balcony, approximately 19 meters above the ground. From this balcony, which wraps completely around the tower, one can have an excellent view of the Kiso River. And on its opposite bank: the neighboring prefecture of Gifu. From the south side balcony, one can look out over the city of Inuyama and on a clear day, see the skyscrapers that surround Nagoya station. It truly is a lovely view; my only gripe with it comes from my own trepidations about heights. I’ve never been a fan of high places where there is an increased risk of falling (airplanes or hotel rooms? No problem! Balconies or Ferris wheels are a different story…). While some castles have chosen to alter their towers to include some kind of metal cage or net around the outside, Inuyama Castle has only a wooden railing that comes up to about my knees. On one hand, I’m grateful that Inuyama castle has decided to maintain its original form; on the other, I couldn’t help but cling close to the wall of the tower as I circled it. Oh yeah, I should also mention that I’ve been up the tower at Inuyama Castle several times, and each time it has always seemed particularly windy.

South facing view. Far past Inuyama on the horizon one can just barely see the outline of Nagoya.
North facing view from the balcony. Below is the Kiso River and on its other side is Gifu.

After taking in the sights, my mother and I carefully descended several flights of stairs to exit the castle. Unwilling to venture back into the heat unprepared, we stopped by the aforementioned gift shop to enjoy some shaved ice. After finishing my treat, I began to look around the shop when I spotted a book for the 100 famous castles of Japan. I had been on the lookout for one ever since my earlier conversation with my student. The book included the stamp rally for both the original 100 castles, as well as the newer list of 100. To me, it felt like I was buying the deluxe version of a game that came with its DLC preloaded. As I leafed through the book, something clicked in my head. I imagined myself venturing across Japan, braving mountains, oceans, and the inability to drive myself anywhere (as of this post I STILL have neither a license nor a car), to experience the full beauty of Japan. And tying it all together would be the castles, magnificent structures of ancient history, each offering their own stamps as proof, a testament to my travels.

That, and it kind of reminded me of one of those tedious quests that always appear in JRPGs. You know, the ones where you have to find some arbitrarily huge number of something or other scattered across the world map. And I do love me some JRPGs…

After purchasing the book, I gleefully began looking for the stamp. Noticing a stamp station near the exit gate, I excitedly stamped the space for Inuyama Castle, thus beginning a quest that would consume my thoughts and income for the foreseeable future. And what better castle to begin with than Inuyama Castle, one of the National Treasures of Japan!

…Or so I thought. In my giddiness to collect my first stamp, I failed to realize that I had selected the wrong stamp. Yes, as I would later come to learn, there are often multiple stamp rallies occurring simultaneously at popular castles across Japan. It was only after visiting several other castles that I began to notice that the Inuyama Castle stamp didn’t really follow the same pattern as the others. So, one morning I sheepishly returned to the castle, paid the entrance fee, and entered the offices above the castle gate to receive the CORRECT stamp for Inuyama Castle.

BUT! I remain undeterred! Even after my slight hiccup, I still have resolved to visit all 200 of the fine castles of Japan. And Inuyama will always be a special one for me. It’s not the castle I visited first in Japan; it’s not the castle that I (technically) stamped first; it IS one of the oldest, but that’s beside the point. No, Inuyama will be special to me because it’s where I believe my quest began. And if you’ve read this far, I hope you’ll continue that quest with me.

So, dear reader, let’s enjoy the many castles of Japan together!

Castles visited: 1/200

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