Wakayama Castle, Japanese castle in Wakayama, Japan
Wakayama Castle is a hilltop fortress in Wakayama whose three-story concrete main tower rises above massive stone walls and water-filled moats. The complex includes restored defensive gates, administrative buildings, and a formal garden on the western edge of the inner fortification.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the castle built in 1585 after the Kii campaign, with his brother Hidenaga as commander; Todo Takatora directed construction on Mt. Torafusu, and the place name changed from Wakayama to Wakayama. In 1619 Tokugawa Yorinobu entered as lord of the 555,000-koku Kishu domain and from 1621 rebuilt the castle and town. The keep burned in 1846 and was rebuilt in 1850; it was destroyed again in the 1945 air raid.
The name Wakayama replaced the earlier "Wakayama" (若山) when Toyotomi Hideyoshi's castle was built in 1585. The extant Okaguchi Gate, rebuilt in 1621 under Tokugawa Yorinobu, is a designated Important Cultural Property, and the Oimawari Gate was found to have been painted red during dismantling repairs in 1984–1985.
Access to the grounds is free, while entry to the main tower and museum requires a fee. Paths on the castle hill wind through shaded tree lines and can become slippery when wet.
The 1958 concrete reconstruction followed the 1850 tower's carpenter plans, preserved by Mizushima Heijirō's descendant Eizaburō, and the 'Otenshu Gofushin Oboegaki'. Heights were calculated from pre-war photographs because the drawings lacked measurements.
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