Maizuru Castle Park, Japanese castle in Kofu, Japan
Kōfu Castle, also called Maizuru Castle, sits on a small hill in central Kōfu. Its honmaru measures about 100 by 50 meters, and stone walls up to 15 meters high remain. The tenshu platform stands empty, and the Inari Yagura, a restored two-story turret with a gabled roof, houses a museum of artifacts.
Kōfu Castle was built on Ichijōmodoriyama hill by Toyotomi retainer Katō Mitsuyasu after 1590 and completed by Asano Nagamasa in 1593. The Tokugawa shogunate later used it as a refuge should Edo fall; the tenshu was already ruined and never rebuilt. In 1727 fire destroyed the honmaru palace and Akagenenmon gate. Imperial troops under Itagaki Taisuke took the castle without a fight in 1868, and remaining structures were pulled down in 1877.
The castle's alternate name, Maizuru, means 'dancing crane', a poetic epithet for the castle itself. The hill was earlier the site of Ichiren-ji, a Jodo-shu temple that was moved when the castle was built. Today the grounds serve as a public park, and the restored Inari Yagura tower, completed in 2004, houses a museum of artifacts excavated from the castle site.
Visitors can walk along marked paths through the terraced levels, reaching several restored gates and raised viewing points. The preserved stone walls are easily accessible, and the site offers open exploration throughout the year.
The site is one of the few places in the region where visitors can see preserved stonework and earthworks from the late 16th century. Archaeologists have excavated more than 3000 items here, including pottery and weapons, now displayed in nearby museums.
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