Kasteel Kochi
Kochi Castle, in Marunouchi, Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture, is a flatland-mountain castle whose construction was completed by Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1611 (Keicho 6); it is one of Japan's 12 surviving original tenshu and a designated Important Cultural Property. Most of the castle, including the keep, was lost in the 1727 great fire of the castle town; the surviving keep (18.5 m tall) and Honmaru Palace both date to a 1749 reconstruction. Kochi Castle is the only one in Japan where both the keep and the Honmaru Palace remain together within the inner bailey. With 15 Important Cultural Property structures and about 220 Yoshino cherry trees within the grounds (selected among Japan's «Top 100 Cherry Blossom Sites»), the castle — paired with its evening illumination — is Shikoku's foremost castle for photography. The Yamauchi clan ruled Tosa for 14 generations and 244 years until the Meiji Restoration.
Highlights
- Honmaru keep (18.5 m) — rebuilt 1749, one of Japan's 12 surviving originals, with an irimoya hip-and-gable roof; interior open, with a city panorama from the top
- Honmaru Palace — uniquely at Kochi, both keep and palace survive together within the inner bailey, in elegant shoin-zukuri style with kyo-ma tatami
- Otemon Gate — a designated Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1801; during cherry-blossom season it frames the keep in the classic «sakura and castle» composition
- About 220 Yoshino cherry trees — selected among Japan's «Top 100 Cherry Blossom Sites,» in full bloom late March to early April with evening illumination
- Sugi-no-Dan stonework — robust black quartzite walls, especially distinctive when overgrown with moss
