Kanazawa Castle

Timeline

1. 1546

   Oyama Gobo built

   Ikko-ikki followers built Oyama Gobo as a fortified Jodo Shinshu temple, becoming the headquarters of their control over Kaga Province

2. 1580

   Sakuma Morimasa captures site

   Oda Nobunaga's general Sakuma Morimasa captured Oyama Gobo, renamed it Kanazawa Castle, and made it his residence

3. 1583

   Maeda Toshiie enters

   Following the Battle of Shizugatake, Maeda Toshiie entered the castle on April 28, renaming it Oyama Castle and beginning Maeda rule

4. 1592

   Maeda Toshinaga rebuilds

   Drawing on Korean campaign experience, Maeda Toshinaga built extensive stone walls, the Hyakkenbori moat, a six-story keep, and rows of turrets

5. 1602

   Tenshu keep burns

   Lightning destroyed the keep on October 30; tension with the Tokugawa shogunate prevented reconstruction and a three-story turret was built instead

6. 1631

   Kan'ei Great Fire

   A massive fire forced major rebuilding; the following year the Tatsumi Canal was channeled into the castle and the Ninomaru became the lord's residence

7. 1759

   Horeki Great Fire

   The Horeki Great Fire engulfed the castle town and inflicted further extensive damage on the castle structures

8. 1873

   Abolition under Meiji

   The Castle Abolition Order placed the site under Imperial Army control, with the 7th Infantry Regiment stationed there from 1875

9. 1881

   Fire destroys most structures

   A fire from the 7th Regiment barracks on January 10 destroyed nearly every structure except the Ishikawa-mon, Sanjukken Nagaya, and Tsurumaru Storehouse

10. 1949

    Kanazawa University moves in

    On May 31, the newly founded Kanazawa University established its Marunouchi campus on the castle grounds, where it remained until 1995

11. 1996

    Castle park restoration begins

    Ishikawa Prefecture acquired the site from the national government and began the Heisei-era restoration as Kanazawa Castle Park

12. 2001

    Hishi Yagura reconstructed

    The first phase reconstructed the Hishi Yagura, Hashizume-mon Tsuzuki Yagura, and Gojikken Nagaya using traditional methods and opened them to the public

13. 2008

    National Historic Site

    Kanazawa Castle was designated a National Historic Site, formalizing its status alongside the 2006 selection as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles

14. 2020

    Nezumitamon Gate restored

    The Nezumitamon Gate and Bridge were reconstructed in timber after roughly 140 years, opening a new route to the Nagamachi samurai district

15. 2025

    Ninomaru Palace begins

    On March 9, groundbreaking began for the Ninomaru Palace omote-muki reception hall, the climax of the Heisei Castle Construction project

Detailed History

Kanazawa Castle traces its origin to 1546, during the late Muromachi period, when Ikko-ikki followers of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism built Oyama Gobo on the Kodatsuno Ridge. Surrounded by stone walls like the Ishiyama Hongan-ji, it became the headquarters of the Peasants' Kingdom ruling Kaga Province. In 1580, Oda Nobunaga dispatched Sakuma Morimasa; he captured Oyama Gobo, renamed the site Kanazawa Castle, and began work on moats and the castle town. After Nobunaga's assassination, Morimasa sided with Shibata Katsuie and was defeated by Maeda Toshiie at Shizugatake in 1583. Toshiie entered on April 28, renaming the castle Oyama. In 1587, the Kirishitan daimyo Takayama Ukon, renowned for castle design, oversaw a sweeping reconstruction; the Kanazawa name returned around this time. In 1592, drawing on the Korean invasions, Maeda Toshinaga rebuilt with stone walls, the Hyakkenbori moat, and a six-story keep. Lightning destroyed it on October 30, 1602; tense relations with the Tokugawa made rebuilding dangerous, and a three-story turret took its place. The Kan'ei Fire of 1631 forced another rebuild, after which the Tatsumi Canal was channeled in by Itaya Hyoshiro in 1632. Further fires struck in 1759 and 1808, but the castle functioned throughout the Edo period as the seat of Kaga Domain under 14 generations of Maeda. The castle passed to the Imperial Army in 1873, and the 7th Infantry Regiment was stationed there from 1875. A fire from the regiment barracks on January 10, 1881, destroyed nearly every structure except the Ishikawa-mon, Sanjukken Nagaya, and Tsurumaru Storehouse. From 1898 the 9th Division headquartered on the site, and after the war Kanazawa University used the grounds as its Marunouchi campus from 1949 to 1995. Ishikawa Prefecture acquired the site in 1996. The Hishi Yagura, Hashizume-mon Tsuzuki Yagura, and Gojikken Nagaya were reconstructed in 2001; the castle became a National Historic Site in 2008; the Kahoku-mon followed in 2010, the Hashizume-mon and Gyokusen'in-maru Garden in 2015, and the Nezumitamon Gate and Bridge in 2020. The Noto earthquake of January 1, 2024, damaged 27 stone-wall sections, and on March 9, 2025, work began on the long-awaited Ninomaru Palace.

Cultural Significance

Kanazawa Castle served throughout the Edo period as the seat of the 14-generation Maeda clan, who ruled Kaga, Noto, and Etchu and held the largest kokudaka of any tozama daimyo in Japan. It embodies the prestige of the million-koku domain that funded one of early modern Japan's most flourishing regional cultures. Three surviving Edo structures (Ishikawa-mon, Sanjukken Nagaya, Tsurumaru Storehouse) are Important Cultural Properties, and the entire site became a National Historic Site in 2008. It was selected as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles in 2006. The Kanazawa name replaced the older Oyama when Sakuma Morimasa wished to break with the Ikko-ikki past. The adjacent Kenroku-en, one of Japan's three great gardens, originated as the Renchitei auxiliary garden commissioned by the fourth Maeda lord Tsunanori, making castle and garden a single cultural landscape. After the 1631 Fire, the Maeda built defensive temple networks including the labyrinthine Myoryu-ji (Ninja-dera) whose well reportedly connects to an escape tunnel. In 2006, Ishikawa and Kanazawa jointly proposed the castle-town heritage for Japan's tentative UNESCO list, where it remains under review. The lead tiles, namako walls, and unique black-mortar joints of the Nezumitamon Gate reflect the Hokuriku aesthetic and the Maeda's independent vision.

Architectural Details

Kanazawa Castle is a tei-kaku-shiki hirayama-jo on the Kodatsuno Ridge between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its six enclosures (Honmaru, Ninomaru, Sannomaru, Shinmaru, Kitanomaru, Gyokusen'in-maru) are staggered to exploit the topography. After the keep burned in 1602, the three-story turret and Ninomaru Palace served as the core. Three signatures define Kanazawa: first, walls clad in namako (sea-cucumber) tilework, with square tiles laid diagonally over white plaster and joints raised in white plaster, while the Nezumitamon Gate alone uses black-mortar joints found nowhere else in Japan; second, lead-clad roof tiles chosen for their light weight under heavy Hokuriku snowfall, which could in wartime be melted into musket shot; and third, decorative karahafu and irimoya bay windows on first-tier turrets. The stone walls exhibit all three historical techniques (nozura-zumi, uchikomi-hagi, kirikomi-hagi), earning the nickname stone-wall museum. The outer defenses originally included four sogamae moats, most later turned into irrigation canals. Mount Yamazaki inside Kenroku-en is part of the sogamae earthwork. The Tatsumi Canal, designed by Itaya Hyoshiro in 1632, is a roughly 11-kilometer inverted-siphon aqueduct supplying drinking and fire water. The Heisei and Reiwa reconstructions use traditional methods with no nails and authentic clay-and-plaster finishes.