Marugame Castle

Marugame's keep is the smallest of the twelve surviving originals - three storeys, fifteen metres, completed in 1660 - and the disproportion is the point: it stands on a stack of stone walls that rise more than sixty metres in tiers around the hill, some of the tallest castle stonework in Japan. The walls are the achievement, built in the ogi no kobai form, a concave curve like an open fan that gets steeper towards the top, and they are what the town is proud of. The climb up to the keep is steep. In 2018 heavy rain caused a section of the outer wall to collapse, and the reconstruction has been a long careful project of numbering and re-laying stones, parts of which are visible and explained. Cherry trees fill the terraces in April, and from the top the Seto Inland Sea and the Seto Ohashi bridge are visible.

History

In the Muromachi period the area was ruled by the Kagawa clan from Amagiri Castle. In 1640 the Ikoma clan were moved away and their lands divided, and the Marugame area went to Yamazaki Ieharu, a noted castle builder who had worked on Osaka and Shimabara castles (Wikipedia, Marugame Castle).

What to look for

• Sixty metres of stone - tiered walls among the tallest castle stonework in Japan.
• The fan curve - ogi no kobai walls, concave and steepening towards the top.
• The smallest original keep - fifteen metres, completed in 1660.
• Rebuilding work - a wall section collapsed in 2018 and re-laid stone by stone.

When to go

April for cherry on the terraces. Two hours.

Things to know

The climb to the keep is steep and there is no alternative route. The keep itself is tiny and takes minutes. Sections of wall may be under repair and fenced. Summer on the open terraces is hot.

Nearby

Kotohiragu is south; Takamatsu is east along the coast.

Key facts