About this location: Kochi Castle
Kochi Castle, built in 1611 and rebuilt in 1747, is one of 12 surviving original tenshu. It is the only castle retaining its entire honmaru (inner bailey), the only place where both the main keep and the honmaru palace survive together. A classic shot pairs it with spring cherry blossoms.
Key features
- Honmaru keep (18.5 m) — rebuilt 1749, one of Japan's 12 surviving originals, with an irimoya hip-and-gable roof; interior open, with a city panorama from the top
- Honmaru Palace — uniquely at Kochi, both keep and palace survive together within the inner bailey, in elegant shoin-zukuri style with kyo-ma tatami
- Otemon Gate — a designated Important Cultural Property rebuilt in 1801; during cherry-blossom season it frames the keep in the classic «sakura and castle» composition
- About 220 Yoshino cherry trees — selected among Japan's «Top 100 Cherry Blossom Sites,» in full bloom late March to early April with evening illumination
- Sugi-no-Dan stonework — robust black quartzite walls, especially distinctive when overgrown with moss
