Fukuoka Castle

 

Fukuoka Castle is said to have been the biggest castle in Kyushu, though I believe that means covering the largest area.

Much of the former castle is now Maizuru Park, a huge park with multiples sports grounds and stadiums within it.

The park is also home to numerous gardens planted with different seasonall plants and trees like a Cherry garden, Plum Garden, Iris Garden, and an Azalea Garden.

I visited a little after the peak of the cherry blossoms around the inner area of the castle ruins and on an overcast day.

Other than extensive walls, the most impressive of the remaining original structures is the Tamon Yagura Turret featured in the first few photos.

The castle was constructed between 1601 and 1607 for Kuroda Nagamasa who had been given the domain and nearby Najima Castle which he decided was too small and inconvenient for the building of a catle town.

One of the men responsible for the construction, Noguchi Kazanari, also worked on Osaka Castle and Edo Castle.

When Kato Kiyomasa, the famous Daimyo from Kumamoto, visited he was so impressed with the extensive stonework he named it Seki Castle, literally stone castle.

Covering 47,000 square meters, and with an impressive 47 yagura, much of the stone was quarried on nearby islands, though stones from the dismantled Najima castle and even stones from the fortifications built in preparation for the Mongol Invasion were also used.

Also impressive was the moat system which included a 600 meter wide section to the west that was mostly mud flats at low tide, now turned into Ohori Park.

There are conficting theories on whether a Tenshu, main tower or keep, was actually built. A base was but there seems to be no evidence that one existed, although that may be because in his hatred of Chrsitianity, Kuroda Nagamasa destroyed all documents with the word "tenshu" because it also meant "Christian God".

Like many castle in Japan, in 1871 when the han system was abandoned most of the buildings of the castle were dismantled or destroyed but a couple have recently been returned to ther original site from temples where they had been reassembled.

Maizuru Park and the Fukuoka Castle Ruins are free to enter

The previous post in this series was on Ohori Park, previously the very wide moat that protected the castle from the wesr.

Ohori Park

 

Ohori Park is a huge park in central Fukuoka with a large pond at its centre.

Hori literally means moat, and the pond was originally the outlet of the Kusakae River which had been engineered to become the outer moat of Fukuoka Castle, the ruins of which are still next door in Maizuru Park.

With a circumference of 2 kilometers, the path encircling the pond is very popular with walkers, strollers, and joggers.

The pond is bisected by long bridges that connect to the three small islands in the pond.

When a Chinese-style gazebo was moved here from the zoo in 1949 the notion that the park was modelled on West lake in China began to take hold, though the designers of the park and all early literature never mentioned it.

There children's play areas, a waterside cafe, a Noh Theatre, rental boats, and a traditional Japanese garden. Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimaggio visited on their honeymoon.

When I visited it was an overcast day in April. For photo in full sunshine see this earlier post.

The previous post on day 74 of my Kyushu Pilgrimage was on the delightful Japanese Garden in the park.

Ohori Park Fukuoka

 

Ohori Park in central Fukuoka is a large park built around a large pond ( or small lake)

It was built between 1926 and 29 and modeled on the West Lake in China, and incoprorated part of the moat of Fukuoka Castle.

Three narrow islands in the lake are connectd to each other and the shore by bridges.

The park is home to a lot of wildlife, especially waterfowl.

The circumference of the lake is almost 2 kilometers, and has paths for joggers and strollers

You can also rent boats.

At the southern end of the park is a traditional Japanese garden (which I will cover next), and near it the Fukuoka Art Museum. Also within the park is a Noh Theatre stage and a Starbucks