Imabari Castle

Imabari Castle 今治城
Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan
Imabari Castle Keep
Type	Japanese castle
Site history
Built	1602-1604
Built by	Tōdō Takatora
In use	1604-1873

Imabari Castle (今治城, Imabari-jō^?) is a Japanese castle in Imabari, Ehime, Japan. This castle is well known as one of the three Mizujiro, or "Castles on the sea", in Japan, along with Takamatsu Castle in Kagawa Prefecture and Nakatsu Castle in Oita Prefecture.

This castle was constructed by Tōdō Takatora, a local daimyo. He collected superior knowledge and techniques for building castles from 1602 to 1604 in order to build his own castle. The original major castle to rule the area was Kokufu Castle located on the top of Mount Karako. However, Takatora thought the Kokufu Castle was not in the best place for the governance of the area, so he abolished the old castle and made a new one, Imabari Castle.

In 1635, this castle and Imabari Domain was succeeded by Matsudaira Sadafusa who is nephew of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After that, he and his descendants ruled there for Edo period.

By the order of the Meiji Government, all of the buildings associated with the castle were destroyed. And land ownership was sold to local Shinto shrine. In 1980, the Imabari City government constructed the new donjon tower in the castle.

Imabari castle features a vast seawater moat, a high stone wall and a rare style of main gate. The moat averages 60 meters in length and is intended to neutralize arrows. Almost all parts of the high stone wall have remain unchanged since the Edo Period. The main gate, Kurogane Main Gate (鉄御門, Kurogane-gomon^?), is iron-plated and flanked by turrets.