FUKUYAMA CASTLE MAIN TOWER
The great castle that rose over Bingo, built in the final years of the Edo period.
OVERVIEW
Fukuyama Castle, built in what is now Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture, was a major early-modern castle in western Japan.
Constructed by the Tokugawa shogunate as an important stronghold for the administration and defense of western Japan, it flourished alongside the castle town throughout the Edo period.
Construction began in 1622 under Mizuno Katsunari, the first lord of Fukuyama Domain, and the castle was completed in the same year.
Its main tower was exceptionally distinctive, with its entire northern face clad in iron plates, a remarkably rare feature among Japanese castles.
HISTORY
Fukuyama Castle was built under Mizuno Katsunari, who entered Bingo Province with a domain valued at 100,000 koku in 1619. The castle was completed in 1622 and became the defining symbol of Fukuyama Castle and its domain.
The castle itself was developed as an important base for the Tokugawa shogunate's administration and defense of western Japan. It was one of the most sophisticated castle complexes constructed in the final years of the Edo period.
The main tower was a five-story, six-level structure with a basement, designed in the complex-style layered-tower form. Its most remarkable feature was the iron plating that covered the entire northern side of the tower, a remarkably rare structure in Japan.
Nearby stands the Fushimi Yagura, an extant structure said to have been relocated from the Matsunomaru East Turret of Fushimi Castle in Kyoto on the orders of Tokugawa Hidetada. Its elegant three-story white-plastered exterior preserves architectural characteristics of the Momoyama period.
The Fukuyama Domain passed from the Mizuno family, who ruled for five generations, to the Matsudaira family for one generation and then to the Abe family for ten generations. Until the Meiji Restoration, Fukuyama Castle served as the political center of the domain and its castle town.
However, following the Castle Abolition Ordinance of 1873, many of the castle's buildings, including its palaces and storehouses, were lost. During the Fukuyama air raid of 1945, the main tower and Oyuden bathing pavilion, both designated as National Treasures at the time, were also destroyed by fire.
In 1966, the main tower, Oyuden, and Tsukimiyagura were reconstructed as part of Fukuyama City's 50th anniversary celebrations. In 2022, a major renovation was carried out to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the castle's construction, restoring the distinctive iron-clad appearance of the northern side of the main tower.
For this work, I recreated the main tower as it appeared after the 2022 renovation, bringing its present-day form to life as a Japanese-style Minecraft build.
The interior was reconstructed based on models, plans, and historical research into the structure as it existed before the war. From the structural framework of the pillars to the spaces beneath the roof, I completed a detailed recreation and reconstruction of the castle's architecture.
GALLERY
