Karatsu Castle

 

Karatsu Castle is situated on a spit of land on the west bank of the Matsuura River as it reaches the sea.

I arrived in Karatsu by walking down the Matsuura River and approaching the castle it became clear how the builders had used the river mouth and sea as a moat to offer protection.

Karatsu castle was built by Terasawa Hirotaka between 1602 and 1609. He used a lot of the construction materials from Nagoya castle about 20k away which was built by Hideyoshi as his base  for invading Korea.

Teraswa had his domain taken by the shogunate, partly it seems for not suppressing the Shimbara Rebellion. A series of different clans had the domain until the mid 18th century when the Ogasawara took over and held it until domains were abolished in 1871.

Interestingly, it is considered almost certain that the castle never had a tenshu, or keep. A base for one had been built but there is no evidence one was actually constructed.

The current keep, was built in the style of keeps of the period, and along with  most of the yagura were reconstructed in 1966.

Sections of the outer bailey can be found southwest of the main castle. After settling into my hotel I went to the beach to the West of the castle for some other fine views.

The previous post was on Kakurinji Temple, a few kilometers down the river.