Kōchi Castle

Kōchi Castle, located in Kōchi City, Kōchi Prefecture, is a historic Japanese castle of great preservation value. Due to the color of its roof tiles and walls resembling a hawk’s feathers, it is popularly nicknamed “Hawk Castle.” During the Edo period, Kōchi Castle served as the seat of the Tosa Domain, and its keep (tenshu) is one of the twelve original surviving castle keeps in Japan. It is also the only castle in Japan where both the tenshu and the main bailey palace (honmaru goten) remain intact together. The castle grounds are designated a National Historic Site and have been selected among both the “Top 100 Japanese Castles” and the “Eighty-Eight Views of Shikoku.”

Kōchi Castle was constructed on Mount Ōtakasa (approximately 45 meters high), in the center of the Kōchi Plain. Designed as a hirayama-style castle with terraced enclosures, its defenses were reinforced by natural moats: the Kagami River to the south and the Enokuchi River to the north. As early as the Nanboku-chō period, the site was already home to a fortification known as “Ōtakasa-yama Castle.” In the late Sengoku period, Tosa warlord Chōsokabe Motochika considered relocating his stronghold from Okō Castle to this site, but due to the swampy terrain and construction difficulties, he instead chose the coastal Urato Castle.

In 1601, following the Chōsokabe clan’s dispossession after the Battle of Sekigahara, Yamauchi Kazutoyo was granted control of Tosa Province. He began constructing a castle on Mount Ōtakasa. By 1603, the honmaru and ninomaru were completed, and the entire castle was finished by 1611 under his son Yamauchi Tadayoshi, as Kazutoyo had passed away. The tenshu, three stories with six interior floors, is said to have been modeled after Kazutoyo’s former domain castle, Kakegawa Castle. The castle was initially called “Kōchūzan Castle,” later “Kōchizan Castle,” and finally shortened to today’s name, Kōchi Castle.

In 1727, a great fire destroyed nearly the entire castle. Reconstruction took 25 years, and by 1753 the castle was restored to its full form. The current tenshu is believed to date from 1749. Kōchi Castle’s importance lies in the complete survival of its honmaru complex, including the tenshu, honmaru palace (also known as Kaikan-tei), and Ōtemon gate, with a total of 15 structures, all designated Important Cultural Properties of Japan. Kōchi Castle avoided destruction during the Meiji-era Haijōrei (Castle Abolition Ordinance) and the bombings of World War II, making it uniquely valuable.

Today, Kōchi Castle is open to the public as Kōchi Park. Admission to the castle grounds is free, while entry to the tenshu and honmaru palace requires a ticket. Statues of Yamauchi Kazutoyo and his wife Chiyo (Kenshō-in), as well as Meiji Restoration figure Itagaki Taisuke, can be found within the grounds. The surrounding area houses Kōchi City Hall, the Kōchi Prefectural Office, the local courthouse, and prosecutor’s office, marking it as both an administrative and judicial hub of the prefecture.