Odawara Castle
小田原城 · Kanagawa Prefecture · Odawara City
Jonai area, Odawara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, now Odawara Castle Ruins Park; a flatland-hill castle and one of Japan's 100 famous castles, whose present keep, rebuilt in 1960, overlooks Sagami Bay.
Know before you go
- Red lines: do not climb stone walls or moat railings
- do not touch museum exhibits. Taboos: do not talk loudly or enter non-public areas inside the keep
- do not shake or break cherry branches in blossom season. Good manners: keep to paths and hold rails on slippery stone steps after rain. Common pitfalls: (1) assuming the present keep is the Hojo original — it is a 1960 reconstruction in Edo style
This article is Not yet verified. Please check official announcements for prices, opening hours and dates.
Stories & people
Stories & people
History
Odawara Castle — the historical setting
Odawara was the Kanto base developed over five generations by the Later Hojo; attacks by Uesugi Kenshin in 1561 and Takeda Shingen in 1569 both failed to take it. In Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1590 Odawara campaign, his great army reduced the outer supporting castles one by one, and the Hojo opened the castle after about three months' siege in the same year, effectively ending the Sengoku period; there was relatively little pitched fighting, as encirclement and isolation dominated, so it should not be written as a great bloody storming.
Culture
Culture & customs
Background
Odawara was the Kanto base developed over five generations by the Later Hojo; attacks by Uesugi Kenshin in 1561 and Takeda Shingen in 1569 both failed to take it. In Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1590 Odawara campaign, his great army reduced the outer supporting castles one by one, and the Hojo opened the castle after about three months' siege in the same year, effectively ending the Sengoku period; there was relatively little pitched fighting, as encirclement and isolation dominated, so it should not be written as a great bloody storming.
Local customs
- (1) Odawara Castle keep (小田原城天守) — interior exhibits and top-floor Sagami Bay views
- (2) Copper Gate (銅門) and Umadashi Gate area (馬出門周辺) — reconstructed Edo gates
- (3) Walk around the main and second bailey moats (二の丸堀周辺散策) — stone walls and water moats
- (4) Odawara Castle Ruins Park cherry and hydrangea seasons (小田原城址公園桜・あじさい季)
- (5) Distant view toward Ishigakiyama Ichiya Castle direction (石垣山一夜城方面遠眺) — geography of Hideyoshi's siege side, with any hike per fitness and official routes.
Etiquette & taboos
Etiquette & taboos
Don’t DON'T
- Red lines: do not climb stone walls or moat railings
- do not touch museum exhibits. Taboos: do not talk loudly or enter non-public areas inside the keep
- do not shake or break cherry branches in blossom season. Good manners: keep to paths and hold rails on slippery stone steps after rain. Common pitfalls: (1) assuming the present keep is the Hojo original — it is a 1960 reconstruction in Edo style
- (2) taking "Ichiya Castle" (One-Night Castle) literally as built in one night — it was Hideyoshi's siege castle on Mount Ishigaki, the name being a later popular name, with construction time per local explanations.
Locals appreciate DO
Please respect local residents, open areas, and on-site rules.
Plan your visit
Practical info
| Getting there | Intercity: Tokaido Shinkansen, JR Tokaido Main Line or Odakyu Line to Odawara Station. Local: about a 10-minute walk from Odawara Station to the park. Pay by IC card or cash; keep entry on the order of a few hundred yen, per official prices. |
|---|
Travel tips
- Check the official notice for admission and opening hours
- keep entry on the order of a few hundred yen, per official prices. It can pair with the Odawara Station fish market and the Hakone direction, but do not squeeze Hakone and the castle into the same last-train window
- bring water and sun protection in summer.
People
People & stories
Sources & verification notes
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