Hiroshima · MotomachiNo.1115★★Open in map →
Hiroshima Castle
The keep at the centre of Hiroshima no longer opens its doors, but the moat, the stone walls and a reconstructed timber gate complex are all still there to walk. It is a castle you circle rather than climb.
- FromHiroshima Station
- ~30 minHiroden tram, lines 1 / 2 / 6
- Get off atKamiyacho-higashi tram stop (Hiroden Main Line)
- On foot
- Hiroshima Castle
The sweet spot
This is not a hidden spot, and the grounds carry a steady flow of people. What changed is the shape of a visit. With the keep shut there is no queue and no top-floor view, so the reason to come is the circuit at ground level: water, stone, timber and trees.
Where it is
25 more notes in Hiroshima · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Gomon Bridge and the Omote-gomona timber bridge over the inner moat leading into the tower gate of the Ninomaru
- The Ninomaru's reconstructed buildingsfour timber structures — front gate, flat turret, long turret and drum turret — entered shoeless
- Naka-gomon gate site and the A-bombed treesdiscoloured stones at the earth bridge, beside three trees that lived through the blast
- Chugoku Regional Military Headquarters air-defence rooma half-buried concrete shelter by the inner moat wall, source of the first report of the bombing
- Honmaru upper levelGokoku Shrine, the foundation stones of the wartime imperial headquarters, and the keep from its base
How to actually get there
- Take Hiroden line 1, 2 or 6 from the stop in front of the south exit of Hiroshima Station and ride to Kamiyacho-higashi.
- Walk north through the central park until the inner moat and the white-walled turrets come into view.
- Cross Gomon Bridge into the Ninomaru, leave your shoes at the door, and follow the corridor through the turrets.
- Carry on over the earth bridge to the honmaru for the shrine, the headquarters foundation stones and the keep at close range.
- Hiroden tram to Kamiyacho-higashi
- Hiroden lines 1, 2 and 6 all leave from the tram stop in front of the south exit of Hiroshima Station and run west through the city centre to Kamiyacho-higashi. From the stop the castle lies about 850 m north, on foot through the central park.
- Return from Kamiyacho-higashi
- Walk back south to the same stop and take lines 1, 2 or 6 toward Hiroshima Station. Services thin out late in the evening, so check the board at the stop if you stay on after dark.
About the place
Hiroshima Castle stands on the river delta at the centre of the city, ringed by a wide inner moat. Mori Terumoto chose the site and raised the castle here, and it remained the seat of the domain through the Edo period. The keep you see today is a concrete replica of the wooden original, built during the city's postwar recovery. It has since closed to visitors, because the concrete and the fittings had aged past safe use, and the collection held inside is moving to a new history hall on the third bailey. The outside is unchanged. The moat, the stone walls, the reconstructed gate complex and the surviving trees are all still open to walk.
How to enjoy it
The Ninomaru buildings open at 9:00 and shut in the afternoon, earlier in the winter half of the year, with the last entry half an hour before closing. Allow about an hour and a half if you want the full moat circuit as well as the baileys. Since the keep cannot be entered, build the visit around the walk and not the climb.
Background & history
Construction began in 1589, when Mori Terumoto moved his base from the mountains down to the delta. The original wooden keep stood until 6 August 1945, when the atomic blast collapsed its lower storeys and brought the rest down with them. A concrete replica of the exterior went up in 1958 and served for decades as the castle museum. That keep closed on 22 March 2026, and the city has said there is no plan at present to take it down.
Before you go
- Cash
- The reconstructed Ninomaru buildings were free to enter when checked, so nothing is needed at the door. Carry small change or an IC card for the tram.
- Before you go
- The keep is shut to visitors and can only be seen from outside. The Ninomaru buildings close for a few days around the year end. Most of the site is open ground with little shelter, so rain and midsummer heat are both felt.
- Another way
- From the Peace Memorial Park it is a walk of a little over a kilometre north-east, with no transfer, which is why the two are often done in the same morning.
- After you get off
- From Kamiyacho-higashi, head north through the central park until the inner moat opens in front of you; Gomon Bridge and the gate complex are about 850 m from the tram stop.