Hiroshima castle

Mori Terumoto began construction on a castle located on an island in the delta of the Otagawa (in Aki Province) in 1589. The work on the moats and walls was finished in 1593, but it took until 1599 for the tenshu and other buildings to be completed. Mori called this part of his lands Hiroshima (wide island). Shortly after the Mori found themselves on the losing side at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, this part of their holdings was given to the former Toyotomi loyalist, Fukushima Masanori. Fukushima was watched closely by the Tokugawa Shogunate and the castle suffered severe flood damage in 1617. Fukushima asked the Shogunate for permission to repair this damage, but never received an answer. Undaunted, he proceeded with repairs in 1619. This provided the Tokugawa with the excuse they needed to strip Fukushima of this fief, moving him to a much smaller fiefdom near Kawanakajima. Hiroshima was then turned over to the Asano clan who held it until the Meiji Restoration in 1871. As happened to many castles during this era, all of the buildings except for the tenshu were destroyed by the government (castles were seen as a potential center for rebellions against the Imperial government).

Emperor Meiji lived in the castle for seven months during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, and during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, the castle was used as a barracks for troops.

The castle’s most notorious role in history, however, was being destroyed by the first nuclear attack on Japan in 1945. The atomic bomb completely obliterated the tenshu. However, in a testament to the effectiveness of the Japanese style of building walls, the ishigaki remained relatively untouched.

Reconstruction of the tenshu was begun in 1958. Using the original plans for the castle, it is an exact replica of the original (albeit a concrete reproduction, not built through traditional construction methods) and is built on the original foundation. The tenshu measures 118 feet in height and is 5 stories tall. It is built in the opulent early Momoyama style. The interior space is devoted to a museum.