Kagawa · TakamatsuNo.1175★★Open in map →
Takamatsu Castle
A castle ruin on the edge of the Seto Inland Sea where the moat is tidal seawater, kept by the city of Takamatsu as Tamamo Park. Surviving turrets, a gate that opened straight onto boats, and a keep base you can climb.
- FromTakamatsu Station (JR Yosan and Kotoku lines)
- ~5 minOn foot from Takamatsu Station
- Takamatsu Castle
The sweet spot
This is a well-known castle site in the middle of a prefectural capital, not a hidden one. What changes is the hour. The west gate opens before sunrise through much of the year, so the moat and the turrets can be walked in low, level light long before the day's visitors build up.
Where it is
19 more notes in Kagawa · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Saya-bashi bridgethe only link between the Honmaru and the Ninomaru, roofed and walled like a sword scabbard
- The keep basestonework rebuilt stone by stone, with a deck on top looking over the inner moat
- Tsukimi-yagura and the Water Gatethe sea-facing group of turret, gate and connecting range where boats once came alongside
- Hiunkaku hall and gardenthe Matsudaira family's Taisho-era villa and its nationally designated garden
- Sakura-gomon gatethe tower gate into the Sannomaru, rebuilt on its original stone footings
- Ushitora-yagurathe corner turret moved to Sakura-no-baba, standing over the moat by the east gate
How to actually get there
- Takamatsu Station → west gate of Tamamo Park (walk east along the harbour front, about five minutes).
- West gate → Saya-bashi bridge and the keep base, where a deck looks back across the inner moat.
- Keep base → the north side for Tsukimi-yagura and the Water Gate, then inland to the Hiunkaku hall and its garden.
- Hiunkaku → Sakura-gomon gate and Ushitora-yagura at Sakura-no-baba, leaving by the east gate beside the Kagawa Museum.
- On foot from Takamatsu Station
- From the concourse of JR Takamatsu Station, walk east along the harbour front for about five minutes. The moat appears on the right, and the west gate of Tamamo Park stands beside the Kotoden terminus at Takamatsu-Chikko. No transfer and no fare are involved. The east gate, on the car park side by the Kagawa Museum, is the other way in.
- Back to Takamatsu Station
- Leave by the west gate and retrace the harbour-front walk, or exit by the east gate and follow the moat west to the station. Both gates shut in the evening, earlier in winter than in summer, so read the closing time posted at the gate as you go in.
About the place
Takamatsu Castle was built where the city meets the Seto Inland Sea, and it is counted among Japan's three great water castles. Seawater is drawn straight from the Inland Sea into the moats, so the level shifts with the tide and sea bream swim under the stone walls. The city keeps the grounds as Tamamo Park, entered through a west gate next to the Kotoden terminus and an east gate on the car park side. Inside, the surviving turrets, the keep base and the Hiunkaku hall sit within a short, level walk of each other.
How to enjoy it
The west gate opens as early as 5:30 in the summer months and later through winter, so an early start puts the moat and the stonework in low, level light. Walking west gate to east gate takes in the bridge, the keep base, the sea-facing turrets and the Hiunkaku hall in one unbroken line. A flat-bottomed castle boat works the moat through the warmer half of the year, and feeding the sea bream from it is part of the ride.
Background & history
Ikoma Chikamasa was granted Sanuki Province in the late sixteenth century and raised the castle on the shoreline, where ships could come alongside the walls. In 1642 Matsudaira Yorishige entered Takamatsu with a domain of 120,000 koku, and his line rebuilt and held the castle to the end of the Edo period. The keep was taken down in 1884. The site was designated a National Historic Site and opened to the public as Tamamo Park in 1955, and the Sakura-gomon gate, lost in the war, was rebuilt in 2022.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is charged at either gate. The city lists 300 yen for an adult and free entry for anyone under eighteen at the time of checking, and also sells a one-year pass. The boat ride on the moat is priced separately.
- Before you go
- The park is closed from 29 to 31 December. Opening and closing times shift month by month and differ between the west and east gates, so the two are not interchangeable late in the day. There is no lighting inside once the gates shut. Paths are flat and paved, and fully open to the wind off the sea.
- Another way
- From Kotohira or Ritsurin, ride the Kotoden Kotohira Line to its terminus at Takamatsu-Chikko, which stands directly in front of the west gate.
- After you get off
- Leave Takamatsu Station on the harbour side and keep the water on your left. The stone walls and the moat come into view within a few minutes, and the west gate is at the far end of them.