There are also many other attractions at the western and southern parts of the park. The Sand Enclosure is a large one which was built later than other enclosures, on the natural sand dune at the western side. It has high stone walls which overlook the city roads. The inside of the enclosure was empty from the beginning, maybe because of that, it is now used as a ground and tennis courts.
The map around the castle
The Sand EnclosureThe stone walls of the Sand EnclosureA view from the top of the stone walls
The Oimawashi-mon Gate is another remaining building of the castle, which is painted red. The reason for the color is said to be for the amulet against the unlucky southwest direction called Ura-kimon.
The Oimawashi-mon Gate
The Akazu-no-mon Gate Ruins are another entrance of the park, which is in front of the Southern Enclosure. Its turret stone wall base is the highest one in the castle, which is about 23m high.
The Akazu-no-mon Gate RuinsThe turret stone wall base
Later History
After the Meiji Restoration, Wakayama Castle was abandoned. The main portion of it was owned by the Japanese Army, followed by Wakayama City, and turned into a park. The park had not only the remaining castle properties but also official facilities like a museum, a library, a school, a fire station, and the City Hall. However, the city has recently been developing it as a historical park by removing the facilities. It aims to restore the scenery of the castle at the end of the Edo Period. In addition, the site has been designated as a National Historic Site since 1931.
The restored Main Gate seen from the Second Enclosure The long, old stone walls surrounding the central hill
My Impression
I didn’t think Wakayama Castle has so many attractions before my visit. I also noticed the importance of the Main Tower as the center point and symbol of the castle. If the tower was not there, such a large castle could be distracting. That could be the reason why people in Wakayama restored the Main Tower.
The Main Tower seen from the Second EnclosureThe Main Tower seen from the Sand EnclosureThe miniature model of the Main Tower, exhibited by Wakayama castle Museum of History
How to get There
If you want to visit the castle by car, it is about 15 minutes away from Wakayama IC on the Hanwa Expressway. There are several parking lots in or around the park. By public transportation, It takes about 10 minutes on foot from Wakayamashi Station on the Nankai Railway. Or you can take the Wakayama Bus Route 0 or 25 from JR Wakayama Station and get off at the Wakayamajo-mae bus stop to get there. To get to Wakayama Station from Tokyo: Take the Tokaido Shinkansen super express and transfer to the Kuroshio limited express at Shin-Osaka Station. Or it may be a good idea to fly to the Kansai Airport and take the JR train to Wakayama Station or the Nankai Railway to Wakayamashi Station.
The parking lot inside the Akazu-no-mon Gate RuinsWakayamashi Station
There are so many attractions you should check out in the castle.
Features
From Main Gate to Nakagomon Gate Ruins
Today, Wakayama Castle site has been developed as Wakayama Castle Park by Wakayama City. It still includes the main portion of the original castle. It has five entrances same as the castle had, as the Main, Okaguchi, Oimawashi, former Akazuno, and former Fukiage Gates.
The map around the castle
If you want to see what the castle was like, it may be better to enter the Main Gate at the northeastern part of the park. The gate and the bridge in front it over the Inner Moat were restored in the present time. Once you enter the gate, you will see how large the castle grounds and moats are.
The Drawing of the Main Gate Area from the Illustrated collection of Famous Sites in Kii Province, from the signboard at the siteThe Main GateA view from the inside of the Main GateThe Inner Moat at the eastern side of the castle
You will go to the ruins of Nakagomon, the second gateway, which still have alternating stone walls. This is an interesting spot where you can see two types of the gate stone walls using roughly and precisely processed stones. In addition, you can see the old stone walls surrounding the hill using natural greenschists ahead. These walls were built in different periods.
The ruins of Nakagomon GateLooking down the alternated part from the top of the stone wallsThe walls using granite porphyry stones on the left and the walls using sand stones on the rightThe walls using natural Greenschist stones
Second and Western Enclosures
The Second Enclosure is the west of the Main Gate area. It has only a rock garden built in the present time, but it had the luxury Main Hall with turrets beside the Inner Moat. The Large Hall, part of the Main Hall, was moved to Osaka Castle and remained until 1947 when it was burned. Wakayama City is planning to restore the Large Hall at the original position with some turrets and the O-oku residence in a long term. The distant view of the Main Tower may be the best seen from the enclosure.
The map around the Second Enclosure
The inside of the Second EnclosureThe ruins of Monomi-Yagura Turret at the Second EnclosureThe Inner Moat at the northern side of the Second EnclosureThe Large Hall which was moved to Osaka Castle, quoted from the website of Wakayama CityA distant view of the Main Tower from the Second Enclosure
In the next Western Enclosure, the water garden, called Momijidani-teien or the Autumn Leave Valley Garden, was restored in the present time and designated as a National Scenic Beauty. the Passage Bridge between the Second and Western Enclosures was also restored in 2006. You can walk into the roofed and slanted bridge which is quite rare.
The Autumn Leave Valley Garden in the Western EnclosureThe Passage BridgeThe interior of the Passage Bridge
Remaining Okaguchi Gate
The area around the Okaguchi Gate at the southeastern part of the park is also great to visit. The gate building with the mud wall beside is one of the few remaining buildings of the castle and designated as an Important Cultural Property. It looks like a simple gate with a gabled roof, but it was sandwiched by turrets on both sides.
The map around the Okaguchi Gate
The Okaguchi GateThe remaining mud wallsThe top of the Okaguchi GatePart of the Drawing of the Okaguchi Gate Area from the Illustrated collection of Famous Sites in Kii Province, from the signboard at the site
Inside the gate, there is the second gateway similar to the Main Gate area. You can see a great and high stone wall base for Matsunomaru Turret on the left. Other stone walls form a square space called Masugata to prevent their enemies from attacking them. No buildings remain on them, however, these newer stone walls are also worth seeing.
The second gateway from the Okaguchi GateThe stone wall base for Matsunomaru TurretThe square space seen from the top of the base
Going Main Enclosure and Main Tower climbing Slope
There are two routes to the Main Enclosure on the hill as the Front Slope and the Back Slope. The Front Slope is a gentler but longer route. The first part of it is wide and zigzagged, with beautiful paved Greenschist stones.
The map around the Main Enclosure
The Front SlopeThe beautiful paved Greenschist stones
The last part is long, with old stone walls on the right hill side and several turret stone wall bases on the left valley side. Currently, visitors can enjoy a relaxing walk on that route, but at that time, the enemies would have found the route troubling as they could be counter-attacked.
The last part the Front SlopeA turret stone wall base on the valley side
The Back Slope is steeper but shorter. This route is also made and surrounded by old stone walls, but has a different taste with the mossy stones.
The Back SlopeThe mossy stone walls
The top of the hill has two peaks, one was for another Main Hall, and the other is for the Main Tower. The Main Hall coexisted with that of the Second Enclosure, but it was not often used for its small size and inconvenient location. There is a water station now and it is a good view point of the Main Tower.
Going to the Main Enclosure from the Front SlopeThe Main Hall Ruins of the Main EnclosureA view of the Main Tower from the ruins
Most visitors’ destination is the Main Tower. It is actually a modern building, not original, but was apparently restored in 1958. Its stone wall base is original and thought that it is the oldest among the stone walls in the castle. A building like the Main Tower may have been built on it from the first stage.
A close view of the Main TowerThe stone wall base for the Main Tower
The style of the tower is called Renritsu-siki or the Tower Grouping, which refers to the Large and Small Main Towers and turrets being connected by Hall Turrets like a corridor. The interior of the tower is used as a historical museum and the top floor is used as the observation platform.
You can see the style of the Tower Grouping from the top floorA storage box for tea ceremony utensils, one of the exhibitions in the towerThe top floor of the Large Main Tower as the observation platformAn eastern view including the Main Hall Ruins from the platform
Wakayama Castle has been located in Wakayama City, the capital of Wakayama Prefecture which was called Kii Province. Now Wakayama may seem to be a local city which is far from the main artery of Japan between Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. However, it was one of the ten largest cities in Japan until the Edo Period when the castle was on active service. This is because Wakayama area was once on the main route of water transportation between eastern and western Japan. As a result, the castle finally became the home base of the Tokugawa Clan, one of the three branches of the Tokugawa Family. In addition, the clan produced two Shoguns, Yoshimune and Iemochi Tokugawa, as the successors of the head family.
The range of Kii Province and the location of the castle
The portrait of Yoshimune Tokugawa, owned by Tokugawa Memorial Foundation (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)The portrait of Iemochi Tokugawa, owned by Tokugawa Memorial Foundation (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
Period of Kuwayama Clan
In the 16th Century during the Sengoku Period, a group of the local lords, Saika-shu governed the area by themselves and often sent soldiers for other warlords. However, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the ruler of Japan, conquered the area by destroying them in 1585. Hideyoshi then chose a hill and ordered his younger brother Hidenaga to build a new castle on it, that would be Wakayama Castle. Takatora Todo, one of Hidenaga’s retainers who would later become a master of castle construction, was responsible for it. After its completion, another retainer, the Kuwayama Clan lived in it. The history of Wakayama Castle is divided into three periods, one of which was done by the Kuwayama Clan. What the castle was like in the period is uncertain, but its range was roughly around the hill. This is because the old stones of Greenschist are still piled around the hill, which look very different from the other stone walls of the castle. The reason why the stones were first used was that they could easily get the stones from the hill itself or around.
The portrait of Hidenaga Toyotomi, owned by Shungakuin Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)The portrait of Takatora Todo, private owned (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)The stone walls surrounding the hill of Wakayama Castle
Period of Asano Clan
In 1600, the Asano Clan became the lord of the Kii Province, based in Wakayama Castle, while the Kuwayama Clan was transferred to another. The Asano Clan had a much larger territory than the Kuwayama Clan, so they improved the castle according to its structure. They built the Main Tower on the hill and the residences and tea-ceremony houses on new enclosures at the northern foot. These enclosures were surrounded by stone walls which were piled mainly using roughly processed sandstones. These stones were carried from the places some distance away such as Tomogashima Island, because they were easy to process. The Inner Moat also surrounded the enclosures in the north and east. The southern and western sides were protected by a natural sand dune in front of the sea. In addition, the Main Gate was moved from the south to north, because the castle town, the later Wakayama city area, was also developed in this direction. It is said that the basic structure of the castle was done by the Asano Clan.
The imaginary CG image of the Main Enclosure Main Hall in the Edo Period, from the signboard at the siteThe illustration of Wakayama Castle, in the Edo Period, exhibited by Historical Wakayama CastleThe stone walls of the Sand Enclosure, built using sandstones
Period of Tokugawa Clan
In 1619, Yorinobu Tokugawa came to the castle, while the Asano Clan was transferred to Hiroshima Castle. The castle was improved by him as the home base of one of the three branches of the Tokugawa Family. To make the castle stronger, he built more enclosures on the sand dune such as Sunanomaru or the Sand Enclosure. These enclosures had high stone walls which were basically piled in the same way as the Asano Clan. Some of them would be later piled using more precisely processed granite porphyry stones called the Kumano Stone. Yorinobu built the Third Enclosure for warriors’ houses outside the Inner Moat in the north. He tried to develop the castle more by building the Outer Moat, but had to stop it, as the Tokugawa Shogunate including the head family was against it.
The portrait of Yorinobu Tokugawa, owned by Wakayama Prefectural Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons) The stone walls of the Nakagomon Gate Ruins, built using granite porphyry stones
In the peaceful time during the Edo Period, the center of the castle moved from the hill to the foot of it, for convenience of the government. The Second Enclosure at the northern foot had the Main Hall dividing Omote, Nakaoku, O-oku like the government office, official residence, and private residence. The hall looked like that of the Shogun, the head family in Edo Castle. The neighboring Western Enclosure was the cultural center of the castle. It had a Noh stage, a water garden, and a tea ceremony room, where the lord enjoyed and sometimes invited people. A roofed bridge called Ohashi-Roka or the Passage Bridge was built over the Inner Moat connecting the two enclosures, which only the lord and his relatives could use.
The illustration of the Second Enclosure (in the right) and Western Enclosure (in the left)The water garden in the Western Enclosure and the Passage Bridge (in the back)
However, the Main Tower got burned down by the fire due to a lightning strike in 1846 but it was rebuilt in 1850. In 1945 during World War II, it got burdened down again due to an air raid, but was rebuilt with the same appearance in 1958. It is uncertain if the tower that got burned down was the one that the Asano clan built.
The miniature model of Wakayama Castle, exhibited by Historical Wakayama CastleThe present Main Tower of Wakayama Castle
