Uwajima Castle, Ehime: What to See and How to Get There

One of only 12 castles in Japan with an original Edo-period keep. Climb stone steps up a wooded hill to a small, elegant white keep above Uwajima's harbour.

Noboritachi-mon, the old wooden gate at the foot of Uwajima Castle hill — Photo: Reggaeman (opens in a new tab), CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

Tall stone walls and steps at the Ichi-no-mon site of Uwajima Castle — Photo: Reggaeman (opens in a new tab), CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab), via Wikimedia Commons

Built by Todo Takatora, kept by the Date family

Uwajima Castle stands on a low hill, Shiroyama, in the centre of Uwajima, a port town in southern Ehime Prefecture. It was built by around 1601 by Todo Takatora, famous as a master castle builder. In 1615 Date Hidemune, eldest son of the northern Japanese warlord Date Masamune, moved in, and it remained the seat of nine generations of the Date family until the Meiji era.

The present keep was rebuilt around 1666 by Date Munetoshi, the second Date lord. Only 12 castle keeps built in or before the Edo period survive in Japan, and Uwajima's is one of them. The keep is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property and Shiroyama is a National Historic Site.

A keep built to impress rather than to fight

The keep has three tiers and three floors, and the whole building is finished in white plaster. Its roofs are stacked with decorative gables, both curved karahafu and triangular chidorihafu, giving it an elegant look for such a small building.

It has no small openings for firing guns or arrows and no chutes for dropping stones, so it is seen as a keep of the peaceful Edo period, meant more to show off the lord's dignity than to fight a war. You can go inside, and from the top floor you can look out over the castle town and Uwajima Port. Most of the castle once faced the sea, but that land has since been reclaimed.

A five-sided layout and a green castle hill

Seen from above, the outer boundary Todo Takatora designed is an irregular pentagon. The idea was to make enemies think it was square and so create blind spots, and there is a record of a shogunate onmitsu (spy) actually mistaking it for a square.

Shiroyama has escaped fire and logging for more than 300 years, so it is full of huge old trees and rare plants, and you can walk along reading the plant information boards. The Noboritachi-mon gate at the southern entrance is the only survivor of the seven gates that once stood between the southern entrance and the keep, and it is a city cultural property. Halfway up is the Shiroyama Local History Museum, housed in an Edo-period armoury.

Walking up, and getting there

To reach the keep you climb stone steps, starting either from the Noboritachi-mon gate on the south side or from the Kori family samurai row-house gate (Kori-shi Buke Nagayamon) on the north side. Uwajima city's tourist guide suggests routes around Shiroyama taking about 40 minutes to 2 hours.

The castle is in the centre of Uwajima, so you can combine it with Tenshaen, a garden linked to the Date family, and the Date Museum. Check gate opening times, keep opening hours and admission fees in Uwajima city's official information.

Tips

In July 2026 a slope collapsed on the southern path up to the castle (the Noboritachi-mon side). Since August the route to the Shiroyama Local History Museum has been open provisionally, but the section leading to the children's park is still closed. Check the latest notices before you go.
The Kori family samurai row-house gate on the north side is under repair from March 2026 to March 2027. You can still walk up while the work is going on.
Admission to the keep is cash only, so have some coins ready.

Sources

Updated 30 September 2026. Opening hours and prices change, so check the official site before you go.

Uwajima Castle