These are the twelve castles in Japan which still have their original keep.
(Yep, you read that correctly, there are only 12.)
While there are many beautiful castles in Japan, most of them are concrete replicas. The unrest at the end of the Edo period that fed into the beginning of the Meiji period and Japan’s rapid modernization saw the destruction of most castles. The government was working hard to prevent a sequel to the Sengoku period, and the castles had to go.
I visited them all, made some videos, then put them in some posts, all of which you can find below.
(I’m not very impressed with my video production skills, so don’t expect much!)
Himeji / 姫路城
Inuyama / 犬山城
Matsuyama / 松山城
Marugame / 丸亀城
Uwajima / 宇和島城
Matsue / 松江城
Kochi / 高知城
Maruoka / 丸岡城
Matsumoto / 松本城
Hikone / 彦根城
Bitchu-Matsuyama / 備中松山城
Hirosaki / 弘前城
(Also don’t expect a great deal of detailed descriptions or intelligent castle appraisal here. For that, there are two infinitely superior sites that I recommend: J-castle and Japanese Castle Explorer. )
CityHillsAndSea 