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Kiyosu Castle
| Address |
1-1 Asahishiroyashiki, Kiyosu-shi |
| Information |
Kiyosu Castle Office, 052-409-7330 |
| Hours |
Doors open from 9:00 am to 4:15 pm
(The castle closes to the public at 4:30 pm.) |
Scheduled
closings |
Mondays (or when Monday is a holiday, the following weekday),
December 29 to 31
Scheduled closings do not apply during cherry blossom viewing season or while the Kiyosu Castle Furusato Festival is being celebrated. |
| Profile |
Kiyosu Castle is famous for having served as the steppingstone from which local hero Oda Nobunaga launched his conquest of Japan. The castle was reconstructed in 1989 in commemoration of the centennial of the incorporation of the town of Kiyosu. Along with the red bridge over the Gojo River known as Otebashi Bridge, the castle is an enduring symbol of the City of Kiyosu.
| Castle tower |
This watchtower, which dates to Japan's Sengoku period, features a gabled and hipped roof that incorporates imaginary sea fish and shachihoko (mythical fish figures) intended to ward off fire, supernatural occurrences, and evil spirits. It is distinguished by its gold color and brilliant red balustrade at its peak. |
| Inside the castle keep |
Despite its three-level, four-story steel-framed reinforced concrete structure, the keep incorporates traditional castle construction techniques throughout its design. In addition to defensive openings through which stones could be cast down towards invading forces, gold shachihoko and roof tiles depicting shachihoko like the ones on the castle tower are on display in the keep along with original gilt roof tiles from the keep of Kiyosu Castle that have been excavated from the site. |
| Palace |
The Performing Arts and Culture Hall located next to the keep of Kiyosu Castle is designed to resemble a goden, or palace. Used extensively as a venue for performing arts and other cultural activities, the structure includes a Performing Arts Hall as well as a Japanese-style room modeled on the Kuroki Study, which was originally located inside Kiyosu Castle but was later moved to the palace in Nagoya Castle's keep. |
| Access |
●Transportation
Meitetsu train: The castle is located 15 minutes on foot from Shinkiyosu Station on the Nagoya Main Line.
JR Tokai: The castle is located 15 minutes on foot from Kiyosu Station on the Tokaido Line.
Higashimeihan Expressway: The castle is located 5 minutes from the Kiyosu-higashi interchange. |
 
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Legends of Kiyosu Castle, Part 1
It is said that Shiba Yoshishige, the military governor of Owari at the beginning of the Muromachi period, built Kiyosu Castle as a bulwark for Orizu Castle, the seat of Owari's provincial government, with the purpose of maintaining his power base in the area. Upon completing the new fortress, Shiba installed Oda Toshisada as vice governor of the province. The seat of the provincial government was transferred to Kiyosu when Orizu Castle burned as a result of fighting in 1476, marking the beginning of an era of prosperity when the city would play a central role in the affairs of the province of Owari. As one of three families holding the position of governor-general in the Muromachi shogunate (Shiba, Hosokawa, Hatakeyama), Shiba was a feudal lord second in power only to the family of the shogun himself.
Operating from Nagoya Castle in 1555, Oda Nobunaga captured Kiyosu Castle, from which he later set out to defeat Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560.
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Legends of Kiyosu Castle, Part 2
After his death at Honnoji Temple, Oda Nobunaga was succeeded as the lord of Kiyosu Castle by his second son Nobukatsu, who embarked on a sweeping renovation of the structure in 1586. By the time the project was complete, Kiyosu Castle had become a great citadel with a three-tiered system of outer, middle, and inner moats. At the time the town surrounding the castle is said to have extended 1.6 kilometers east and west and 2.8 kilometers north and south.
In 1610, Tokugawa Ieyasu decreed that the capital of Owari be moved from Kiyosu to Nagoya, where the new capital was more or less complete by 1613. After having been close at hand as Toyotomi and Tokugawa carried on Oda Nobunaga's great project and praised as the “the mainstay of Tokai” and the “one of the greatest castles on earth,” Kiyosu Castle and its town of 60,000 vanished in what is known to history as the “Moving of Kiyosu.”
The effect was aptly described in a surviving song of the era:
Suddenly Nagoya is built, and the flower that was Kiyosu an empty field.
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Legends of Kiyosu Castle, Part 3
After the death of Oda Nobunaga and his son Nobutada, control of Kiyosu Castle passed to his second son Nobukatsu, followed by Toyotomi Hidetsugu (the kanpaku, or regent to the emperor), Fukushima Masanori (one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's most trusted lords), Matsudaira Tadayoshi (the fourth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu), and Tokugawa Yoshinao (the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu). This list suggests the importance with which the rulers of the time viewed Kiyosu in their efforts to unify and rule the nation.
The designers of Nagoya Castle made extensive use of Kiyosu Castle as a source of building materials. In particular, the northwest turret of Nagoya Castle's Ofukemaru fortress was constructed from materials removed from the castle tower at Kiyosu. Also known as the “Kiyosu Turret,” the northwest turret continues today to tower in beauty over the castle's old moat. |
Admission fees for the Kiyosu Castle keep
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Individual |
Group |
Adults |
¥300 |
¥250 |
Children |
¥150 |
¥100 |
| Elementary and middle school students enter as children. Minimum group size is 30. |
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- Kiyosu Castle
