Ueno Castle

Ueno Castle (also known as Hakuhō Castle or Iga Ueno Castle) is located in Ueno Marunouchi, Iga City, Mie Prefecture. It is a hirayama-style castle built at the northern end of the Ueno Plateau, about 184 meters above sea level, right in the center of the Ueno Basin. Surrounded by natural defenses—the Hattori and Tsuge Rivers to the north, the Kume River to the south, and the main stream of the Kizu River to the west—the area has long been a strategically important site for military forces.

The castle’s origins trace back to the Heirakuji Temple and the residence of the Niki clan. During the Sengoku period, Takigawa Katsutoshi, a retainer of Oda Nobukatsu, built a fort on the site, but it was captured by Wakisaka Yasuharu during the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute. Later, in 1585, Tsutsui Sadatsugu renovated the castle. In the early Edo period, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered Tōdō Takatora to expand it. However, construction was halted after the fall of the Toyotomi clan following the Siege of Osaka, leaving the main keep and secondary enclosures largely unfinished during the Edo era.

Despite this, Ueno Castle holds significant historical value. In 1967, the former castle grounds were designated a National Historic Site. Today, the area is open to the public as Ueno Park, an important tourist destination in the Iga region. Within the park are cultural attractions such as the Haiseiden Hall, dedicated to the haiku master Matsuo Bashō, the Bashō Memorial Museum, and the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum. The castle’s renowned stone walls, built by master castle architect Tōdō Takatora, reach about 30 meters in height and are celebrated as some of the tallest in Japan.

The current tenshu (main keep) is a three-story, three-tiered reconstructed structure built in the early Shōwa period, officially named the Iga Cultural and Industrial Castle. Though not an original restoration, it remains valuable for sightseeing and historical education. Some original buildings, such as rice storehouses and armories, also survive and are preserved within Ueno Park.