Marugame Castle, Kagawa | Japan is Nippon

One of the few castles in Japan whose Edo-period keep still stands. Its four tiers of stone walls are said to be the tallest in the country combined.

Stone walls of Marugame Castle rising straight from the moat — Photo: Reggaeman, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The small white keep of Marugame Castle above a stone wall — Photo: iPhone修理/カスタマイズパーツ販売…, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A "castle of stone walls" over 400 years old

Marugame Castle is built on Kameyama, a hill about 66m high in the centre of Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture. Ikoma Chikamasa and his son Kazumasa began building it in 1597, and over several years the framework of the castle took shape.

The tenshu (the tall main tower that serves as a castle's symbol, often called the keep) that stands on the summit today was completed in 1660, in the time of the Kyogoku family. Only 12 castles in Japan still have a keep dating from the Edo period or earlier, and they are known as the "12 original keeps". Marugame Castle is one of them, and its keep, the Ote Ichi-no-mon Gate and the Ote Ni-no-mon Gate are national Important Cultural Properties. It has also been chosen as one of Japan's "100 Fine Castles".

Stone walls that curve up towards the sky

The real star of Marugame Castle is its stone walls. They rise in four tiers from the foot of the hill to the summit, with a combined height of about 60m, and Marugame City describes them as "the tallest stone walls in Japan".

The walls start with a gentle slope at the bottom and become almost vertical near the top. This graceful curve is called ogi no kobai, the "folding-fan slope", because it looks like an open fan. As you climb the steep path from the Ote Gate towards the keep, the walls take on a different look each time your angle changes.

The keep is small, but you can go inside during opening hours.

Stone wall repairs (until the end of March 2028)

In July and October 2018, heavy rain and a typhoon caused the stone walls on the south-west side of the castle (the San-no-maru and the Obiguruwa, two of the castle's terraced enclosures) to collapse badly. Marugame City is carrying out work to rebuild them, returning about 6,000 stones, both fallen ones and ones that had to be taken down, to their original positions.

Completion was first planned for the end of March 2026, but partly because more stones were recovered than expected, the target has been pushed back to the end of March 2028. The areas you can visit may change depending on the work, so check Marugame City's stone wall repair information.

Getting there and how long to allow

The castle is about a 15-minute walk from Marugame Station on the JR Yosan Line. From Takamatsu you can reach Marugame Station on the Yosan Line without changing trains. The castle grounds are open to the public as Kameyama Park, and at the foot of the hill is the Marugame City Museum, which covers the castle and the family of the feudal lords who ruled from it.

According to Marugame City, it is about a 20-minute walk each way from the Ote Gate to the keep. Check the official website for the keep's opening hours.

Tips

The path from the Ote Gate to the keep is a long, steep climb. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
If you want to go inside the keep, allow for the climb (about 20 minutes each way) so you don't arrive just before closing.
You can bring pets into the castle grounds, but not inside the keep or other buildings that are cultural properties.