Tsu Castle, Japanese castle in Tsu, Japan

Tsu Castle is a Japanese castle in Tsu that sits at the meeting point of the Ano and Iwata rivers, which create natural moats around the fortification walls. The site preserves its stone foundation and displays a reconstructed corner tower that gives a sense of the original architecture.

Hosono Fujiatsu of the Nagano clan built a small castle at the Ano and Iwata river delta in 1558. Oda Nobukane expanded it from 1569, adding stone walls, moats and a five-story tenshu completed in 1577. Tōdō Takatora rebuilt it as a contour-style flatland castle after 1608, and the tenshu burned in 1662 was never rebuilt.

The grounds were transformed into a public park where people walk among preserved stone walls and view the reconstructed corner watchtower. Locals use the area for recreation, and on spring days the space fills with families enjoying picnics beneath flowering trees.

The site is reachable in around 50 minutes by Limited Express train from Nagoya Kintetsu Station to Tsu Shinmachi Station. The grounds are open to the public, and a walk along the stone walls takes about 20 minutes to complete.

The 1958 corner turret is a concrete reconstruction, not a restoration: its position and form differ entirely from the original Ushitora turret, and features were copied from other castles to make it look more appealing. The garden gate in the Honmaru is a genuine Edo-period survival, the Intoku Gate of the domain school Yuzokan.