Nagoya Castle from the entrance to the castle complex. There are government buildings, archives, and museums on the outer edges of the current castle complex.

This week, in between Mr. Krigbaum’s articles on WWII in The Philippines, I will go back to talking about castles here in Japan.  Nagoya Castle is a grand reconstructed castle a couple of hours south of Tokyo by shinkansen with a rich history and a great, interactive museum.  The city also has ongoing plans to continue restoring much of the castle and its buildings using the original plans and materials.  Even in its current state, the castle is worth visiting and the story of how it came to be as it is now is significant and, at times, tragic.

The foundations of Nagoya Castle date back to the mid Warring States period of Japanese history, when the Imagawa Clan established a much smaller castle on the site.  That castle was later taken by Oda Nobuhide who changed the name to Nagoya and resided there for several years.  It is said that, during this time, Nobuhide welcomed the birth of a son – legendary Japanese Daimyo Oda Nobunaga.  The Oda clan’s time in Nagoya was short, however, and about twenty years later they moved to the newly captured Kiyosu Castle and the small fort at Nagoya was abandoned and left empty.

The inner bailey walks from the outer baileys. Both yagura (turrets) have somehow managed to survive.

Nagoya remained without a proper castle until 1610, when the Owari branch of the Tokugawa Clan was given the aptly named Owari province with Nagoya (with altered kanji) as its capital.  This appointment came with orders to build a large, modern fortress worthy of the Tokugawa name at its center.  Many of the other Daimyo were pressed to contribute materials to the construction and a massive keep was built along with all of the other defenses and government buildings fitting of an important provincial capital.  Today, the modern buildings that are home to the Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City governments are still located within the castle grounds as they were when they castle was built, still surrounded by moats and the foundations of Edo period turrets.

The gate going into the inner bailey of Nagoya Castle.

For the remainder of the Edo period was quiet for Nagoya Castle and the Tokugawa family living there.  Quiet, and poor.  When the keep was built, two large gold carp figures were cast to decorate the top of the roof.  However, by the middle of the Edo period, the province’s finances were in such a poor state that the local government was forced to melt them down and recast them three different times, each time with less gold than before.

The keep of Nagoya Castle.

Eventually, the Edo period ended in the Meiji Restoration and the new government began tearing down the numerous castles throughout the country and Nagoya was also marked for destruction.  However, German diplomat and scholar Max von Brant was in the area when the order was given and decried the proposed destruction of such a beautiful structure.  His complaints were heard and the Imperial Army decided to preserve the castle.  The golden fish on top of the keep were donated to the imperial family and were toured around Japan and even briefly traveling overseas.  Meanwhile, the army took over the castle grounds, using the keep as a local headquarters and replacing many of the palaces and outbuildings with military barracks and city government buildings.  In 1930, the castle was transferred to the city.

Nagoya burns during firebombing attacks on May 14th 1945. Somewhere in the fire, Nagoya Castle burns.
Public domain photo from the U.S. National Archives.

And so the castle survived, just as Himeji, Hikone, and the other existing original castles, until war found Japan.  During World War II, Nagoya Castle keep was used as a regional military headquarters and POW camp while Nagoya City was home to a large Mitsubishi aircraft factory which provided nearly half the aircraft engines Japan used during the war.  This, along with other wartime industries meant that the city eventually came under attack from American bombers.  At first, the castle was spared damage, but as conventional bombs gave way to firebombing, eventually the castle’s luck ran out.  On May 14^th, an Army Air Corps dropped incendiary bombs on the city, targeting military industry and control facilities.  Nagoya Castle was destroyed in a firestorm that burned half the city to the ground.  By the end of the war, nearby Ogaki Castle and the grand Hiroshima castle would also be destroyed, amongst others.

Devastation in Nagoya following bombing raids during WWII.
Public domain photo from the U.S. National Archives.

Today, a concrete keep stands on the repaired foundation of the original Tokugawa structure and many of the moats, walls, and other non-flammable earthen works still exist intermixed with modern government buildings, businesses, and busy city streets cutting through the outer defenses.  The current keep outwardly matches the appearance of the original, based on pictures and old records.  Three of the original turrets and two gates still stand from the Edo period, but the turrets are generally not open to the public.  The history museum within the keep is one of the better castle museums I’ve seen.  Many of the exhibits are interactive and one floor of the keep even houses a small representation of an Edo period castle town, complete with the sounds and the cycling from day to night.  There are also many displays and placards in English, artifacts from the castle’s history, and models of the city and the original castle keep.  The city has also begun an accurate reconstruction of the honmaru palace in the central bailey of the castle.

Looking up at Nagoya Castle

However, Nagoya castle as it stands today was completed in 1959, so it is an older building.  The structure has deteriorated over the years and earthquake resistance codes have increased.  For this reason, the city plans to tear down Nagoya castle’s keep and replace it with an accurate, wooden keep once construction on the central palace is completed.

The front of the inner palace, which is only partly open. Construction should complete later this year.

In the end, Nagoya Castle is one of the best concrete replica castles I’ve visited.  The museum exhibits are engaging and very well done.  The castle grounds are vast and well maintained, with many of the earth and stonework still visible, even in areas where the city has encroached onto the castle grounds and amongst the government buildings.  The gardens and moats are well maintained and the park around the castle has beautiful walking paths, stones and materials displayed from past reconstructions and repairs on the castle, and wildlife.  More than that, though, is the much more accurate recreation of Nagoya Castle the city has planned and the progress being made to rebuild the other buildings that would have been there in the Edo period.  This gives an already good castle the potential to be something truly special.  That is why I refer to Nagoya Castle as history regained, and I look forward to seeing how it all comes together when it is finished.