Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa Castle is a large Japanese castle located near the famous Kenroku-en Garden, which once served as the castle's private outer garden. The current structures are mostly reconstructions of how the castle appeared in the 1850s. The castle was originally built by Oda Nobunaga's general, Sakuma Morimasa, in 1580 as he conquered Kaga Province. However, after the assassination of Nobunaga, Morimasa was defeated by Maeda Toshiie in the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583. Toshiie then made Kanazawa the headquarters of Kaga Domain, and it was ruled by the Maeda clan for 14 generations from the Sengoku period until the Meiji Restoration in 1871. The castle was designated a National Historic Site in 2008.