Looking up at the main keep of Inuyama Castle from the grounds of the inner bailey.
If you’ve been following our Facebook, you’ve seen that Mr. Krigbaum and I met up in Inuyama, a small city on the border with Aichi and Gifu Prefectures for several days of museum goodness. David wanted to hit Meiji-Mura, the huge museum park full of buildings from, if you hadn’t guessed from the name, the Meiji Period. The Gifu Air and Space museum is just across the river in Kakamigahara was an obvious draw for the both of us. And me, I wanted to scratch my castle itch by adding Inuyama Castle to my collection of original castles. The plan was for me to arrive in Inuyama early and shoot the castle, and meet David on the way to the hotel. Of course, it turned out that in spite of its small size and convenient location, it was a more difficult shoot than I’d expected.
This small river runs along side the castle and into the Kiso River. It is a great place for an evening walk.
Inuyama Castle claims to be the oldest standing castle in Japan, though Matsumoto Castle and Maruoka Castle in Fukui Prefecture also claim that title. We’ll get into that later. What is certain is that the castle started life in 1537 as a fortification built by Oda Nobuyasa, one of Oda Nobunaga’s uncles. Toyotomi Hideyoshi briefly occupied the castle in 1584 during a brief campaign against Tokugawa Ieyasu following the assassination of Oda Nobunaga as Toyotomi consolidated his own power. By the time construction started on the current keep in 1600, the castle had been modified several times by several different daimyo. Finally, in 1617 the Naruse clan took over the completed castle, ruling the surrounding area until Japan’s feudal system was abolished by the Meiji Government in 1871. The government took over the castle and the outer buildings and defensive rings were gradually dismantled, but the keep and central bailey remained standing. In 1891, the castle was badly damaged by the Great Nobi Earthquake, and the government, unable and unwilling to spend the money needed to repair and upkeep the small castle, gave Inuyama Castle back to the Naruse family on the condition that they maintain it, which made Inuyama the only privately owned castle in all of Japan. In 2004, the castle was turned over to the newly established Inuyamajou Hakutei Bunko (犬山城白帝文庫), a foundation chaired by the Naruse family and funded by the Aichi Prefecture Board of Education.
Arriving in Inuyama in the middle of a thunderstorm meant that I got wet, but still didn’t make it inside the castle. This shot is as far as I managed before I gave up. The whole trip was plagued by the threat of thunderstorms.
Inyuama Castle isn’t very big, but it is an original castle with ties to some important historical figures, so of course, since I was going to be in the area anyway, I definitely wanted to see it. As I mentioned, the original plan was for me to arrive early and shoot the castle while waiting for David. And I arrived, after a long, difficult journey on the local trains from Kanagawa (I’m cheap, what can I say) only a little behind schedule. Unfortunately, I also arrived as a huge thunderstorm was rolling in, while there are no storage lockers outside the station ticket gates. This left me hiking toward the castle with a loaded backpack on my back, in the pouring rain. I made it almost to the entrance of the shrine at the base of the castle hill before the threat of a second storm on the heals of the first and the knowledge that I was soaking all of my clean clothes turned me back. I could always shift the schedule and find a couple hours to visit on another day. And I did. On the last day. Just before heading back toward home. And even that was after one more aborted attempt where I got up to the gate, but didn’t have time left to experience the whole castle. Even so, it was worth the wait.
Inuyama Castle sits on the shore of the Kiso River, dividing Aichi and Gifu Prefectures. This shot look across into Gifu as yet more rain falls on the last day of our visit.
Inuyama Castle is admittedly small, and there aren’t a lot of structures remaining outside of one keep and a single turret. But what is there is very well preserved, marked, explained, and documented, with many placards around the castle and the surrounding town including English text. The preserved castle town serves as a cool shopping street and has multiple local history museums which are great to visit on your way to the castle hill. It is also considered a national treasure, one of only 5 original castles to receive that designation, so it has that going for it as well. And when you consider the close proximity of the Meiji-Mura museum park, the Air and Space museum, Gifu Castle, and numerous other historic sites, there really is no reason not to visit Inuyama at some point if you enjoy Japanese history. Hopefully, you’ll have much better weather than I did.
Interesting note: one of the Japanese sources I read (and poorly translated) suggested that the first two floors of the keep may actually be from the original donjon of the 1540s. In 1600, when they wanted a bigger keep, they simply cut the top off and added more floors. This is part of why it is claimed that Inuyama is the oldest existing castle.
As I mentioned earlier, three of the original castles, Inuyama, Matsumoto, and Maruoka, claim the title of oldest existing castle in Japan. When I wrote about Matsumoto Castle, way back when, I expressly avoided the debate. Since then, I’ve done enough additional research in writing these articles that I think I can weigh in with my opinion. And this is just my opinion. I honestly think that all three castles have legitimate claims to the title of “oldest”, but all three with additional conditions. It really depends on how you define “oldest”. Inuyama, with its origins in 1537, the date the castle foundation itself seems to use, would be considered the oldest castle, and would be at least 40 years older than Maruoka Castle. However, over the next 80 years, the original keep, turrets, and walls were continually, upgraded, renovated, and altered as Japanese castle technology and style changed. The castle as it is today was completed by 1620 and likely looks nothing like the 1540s version would have looked. Even so, the foundations, configuration, and possibly entire floors of the current structure do still date from the 1537, so you could say it is the oldest.
The interior of Inuyama Castle is mostly empty, with only a few displays scattered about.
The next oldest is Maruoka Castle, which is still on the list of castles to visit so I don’t have photos, was built in 1573, and the central Donjon, or keep, is considered to be from this date. This makes it older than Inuyama’s current form, but not as old as the pre-renovation versions. The other debate around Maruoka Castle is that the keep collapsed following an earthquake in 1948. When it was rebuilt in 1955, they used as much of the original material they could, leaving the current castle about 80% original. So you have to ask yourself, does a castle rebuilt after an earthquake with 80% original materials count as original? And does it count as older than a castle that predates it, but has been heavily renovated and upgraded since? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
Inuyama Castle, while small, is situated on a hill, so it is visible from much of the surrounding area.
The youngest of the three claimants for the oldest title is Matsumoto, which I already wrote about back in 2016. The surviving main keep in Matsumoto was completed in 1594 and is completely unaltered. Outside of basic maintenance, upkeep, and restoration work, it has not been damaged, rebuilt, renovated, or otherwise changed in any way. So if you are just looking for the oldest, 100% original, unchanged, looks exactly how it did when it was originally built, castle keep, Matsumoto is the castle for you.
Inuyama Castle as seen from the parking area, with the roof of the large front gate peaking up from behind the trees.
Whichever castle you like though, they are all worth visiting. And if you should find yourself in the Nagoya or Gifu area, Inuyama Castle and Inuyama City are definitely worth your time.
Inuyama Castle through the trees.