Virtual Tour | Nagoya Castle: A Symbol of Owari Tokugawa Power in One of Japan’s Largest Castles
*Note: This video is of the outer wall due to the castle being reconstructed in original form and for better earthquake resistance.
Nagoya is located between Tokyo (formerly Edo) and the Kyoto-Osaka areas. It was essentially a link between the five main roads used to control the flow of goods, people, and ideas. There have been defensive forts in this area for centuries, though Nagoya Castle took its current form in the early 1600s after Tokugawa Ieyasu was in a position to truly ‘unify’ Japan (after changing hands several times, of course). There was a smaller castle on the site but abandoned by the Oda Clan in 1582. Ieyasu ordered the castle to be rebuilt between 1600-1609 and overseen by the Owari Branch of the Tokugawa Clan. Much of the material came from the nearby Kiyosu Castle and up to 20 feudal lords were ordered to help pay for and construct the castle.
The ninth son of Ieyasu, Tokugawa Yoshinao, was charged with seeing that the castle was constructed and that a thriving castle town would emerge around it. To this end, he certainly succeeded. Throughout the Edo Period and afterward, Nagoya thrived as the home castle of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa family, the most prominent of the three Tokugawa branches. The castle is famous for its golden ‘shachihoko’ (usually shortened to ‘shachi’), mythical creatures that adorn the roof. This creature is a sea monster in Japanese folklore with the head of a dragon or tiger lion and the body of a carp covered entirely in black or gray scales. Shachi are unique to Nagoya Castle and have become a symbol of the city.
Unfortunately, due to war, the Castle was destroyed in a 1945 air raid. Remarkably, this is the only time the castle had been destroyed (fires and earthquakes were a constant threat to buildings in Japan). As of summer 2024, the castle’s main keep is closed due to long term renovations that will likely last into 2028. On the positive side, due to surviving records, the castle will be restored in its original form (much of the post-WW2 castle was largely made from modern materials such as plaster and concrete).
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