Iwakuni Castle

Iwakuni Castle was built in 1608 on the top of Yokoyama Mountain.
Iwakuni Castle was built over a period of six and a half years by Hiroie Yoshikawa, who was transferred to Iwakuni after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. The castle was a four-storied, six-story Chinese-style castle tower, but it was torn down only seven years after its construction due to the Tokugawa shogunate’s One-Castle Order.

The current castle tower was rebuilt in 1962 on the south side of the Honmaru (castle citadel) using a reinforced concrete structure based on a drawing entitled “Structural Drawing of the Castle Tower.

Inside the castle tower, built in the Momoyama Nanban style, a precise model of the Kintai Bridge, photographs, armors and armors are exhibited.
The observatory provides a view of the old town, the Kintai Bridge over the Nishiki River, the islands in the Seto Inland Sea, and the mountains of Shikoku in the distance.

A ropeway connects the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain where Yoshika Park is located.
The castle was selected as one of the 100 best castles in Japan.

Kintai Bridge spans the Nishiki River that separates the castle from the castle, creating a distinctive landscape. The castle town was neatly laid out based on the path of this Nishiki Bridge.

The restored castle tower was built about 50 meters to the east, where the view of the city can be seen from the Kintai Bridge, in order to make the castle look better from the foot of the mountain.

The original keep, which can be seen today, was excavated and reconstructed in 1995, and there are other remains of stonewalls and moats on the mountain.