Shrines, museums, parks, and the spots in between, with the access details worked out.
Sixteenth-century castle with traditional Japanese architecture, surrounded by moat and stone walls, featuring a museum and scenic garden.
WakayamaBuilt in just one year starting 1617, this fortress commanded the Seto Inland Sea with 20 towers and 27 gates as a backup to Himeji Castle.
Akashi · HyogoPositioned on a 353-meter mountain, Takeda Castle ranks among Japan's top hundred castles and is famed for its sea-of-clouds phenomenon in early autumn mornings.
Asago · HyogoSeventeenth-century castle built by the Ii clan near Lake Biwa with defensive double moats, recognized as one of Japan's best-preserved castles.
Hikone · ShigaCastle with a watchtower believed to be Japan's oldest tenshu, dating to the 1580s and rebuilt multiple times before being seized after the Meiji Restoration.
Inuyama · AichiKakegawa Castle served as a strategic fortress for the Tokugawa vassal clans along the Tokaido highway connecting Kyoto and eastern Japan.
Kakegawa · ShizuokaHistoric castle rebuilt by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1585 on former Imagawa clan fortifications, now Sunpu Park with reconstructed towers and gates.
ShizuokaMaruoka Castle, known as the Mist Castle, features a historic tenshu claimed to be the oldest castle keep in Japan and now overlooks a public park popular for cherry blossoms.
Sakai · FukuiBuilt in 1580 and ruled by the Maeda clan for 14 generations, this castle's reconstructed structures reflect its appearance in the 1850s.
Kanazawa · IshikawaHistoric castle featuring distinctive black exterior known as the Crow Castle and unique architecture of five external stories and six internal floors.
Matsumoto · NaganoThis shrine honors Takeda Shingen, a Sengoku-period general remembered for both military prowess and regional development in the domain he ruled.
Kofu · YamanashiLate fifteenth-century stronghold that served as the seat of the Hōjō clan, rebuilt in the 1960s as a museum and observation point.
Odawara · KanagawaKawagoe Castle, originally built in 1457 as a defensive fortress, survives through its preserved Honmaru Goten residence and exhibits showcasing feudal-era architecture and history.
Kawagoe · SaitamaMedieval castle ruins in Mito showcasing the prominence of the Tokugawa clan's Mito branch during the Edo period, with remaining moats, gates, and adjacent Kodokan school structure.
Mito · IbarakiAlso known as Tsuruga Castle, this 14th century Fukushima fortress was destroyed in the 1868 Boshin War and later reconstructed as a museum.
Aizuwakamatsu · FukushimaFortress without a traditional keep, reflecting Tokugawa political order and built as a luxurious residential palace to demonstrate authority and wealth.
Sendai · MiyagiAn ancient fortress built in 724 CE that served as the northern capital of the Yamato Empire and administrative center for Mutsu Province.
Tagajo · MiyagiCastle ruins built in 1597 at a strategic river confluence, serving as a northern sentinel monitoring trade routes for over 700 years.
Morioka · Iwate
