Since 1641, when it was rebuilt by Ieharu Yamazaki, the Marugame Castle was never conquered, although its owner was changed in 1658, when the shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna granted the castle to Kyōgoku Takakazu from the Kyōgoku clan.

Even today, with its 60 meters-tall defensive walls, the castle seems impregnable, but take into account that during the medieval times it was even more fortified, with another concentric defensive wall. Probably that’s why its three-tiered main keep (tenshu) is smaller than in other castles, built with a simple and elegant architecture.

Marugame castle, Marugame, Kagawa

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Unusual Japanese architecture, a turtle-shaped temple in Nagasaki