Kakegawa Castle
1 / 8Kakegawa CastlePhoto: Dandy1022 / CC BY-SA 4.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 8 photographs, every one credited.
The first full-scale wooden keep rebuilt in Japan, in 1994, beside a late-Edo palace that is one of four castle palaces left in the country. 9:00–17:00, ¥410, open every day, no senior rate. The Ninomaru Tea House serves matcha and sweets for ¥510 with a view of the keep.
- Our number 3 for Omaezaki, out of ten. It is the first thing we would spend the hours on.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Yes, as your one trip" — taxi out, 75 minutes at the castle and tea house, taxi back. not the tea plateau as well.
- It is not only a photo stop: the keep that went to kochi and came back in wood.
- 9:00–17:00, last entry 16:30 — keep and palace open every day. ninomaru museum (¥200) is closed mondays, including 12 april 2027.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
Why Kakegawa Castle is famous
The keep that went to Kochi and came back in wood
Kakegawa's castle was first built in the 1470s for the Imagawa, and rebuilt by Yamauchi Kazutoyo after 1590; his walls and moats remain. The Ansei earthquake of 1854 wrecked the keep, and it was never rebuilt in the Edo period. The palace, the Ninomaru Goten, was rebuilt by 1861 and survived, becoming an Important Cultural Property in 1980. The keep returned in April 1994, in wood and by the old methods, the first such rebuild in post-war Japan.
The lord who built the first keep here took his carpenters to Kochi and built another like it. Four centuries later, Kakegawa used the Kochi one as the pattern to rebuild its own.
The keep was rebuilt in 1994 as the first full-scale wooden reconstruction of a castle tower in Japan. The original fell in the 1854 earthquake and was never replaced. Beside it stands the late-Edo Ninomaru palace, a National Important Cultural Property and one of only four castle palaces still standing. Both Holland America and Princess run tours here with Kasuisai temple.
It is the one big cultural sight within reach, but it is a half-day. The wharf has no railway and the castle is 35 km inland. The day depends on a taxi hired by the hour or a ship’s tour. Shoes come off in the palace and the keep’s stairs are steep; the tour operators call it moderate and not wheelchair-accessible.
Asahina Yasuhiro builds for the Imagawa, 500 m east of today's site
A half-year siege of Imagawa Ujizane ends in a truce
Stone walls, moats, the first keep and the castle town
Kochi Castle begun the same year, in the Kakegawa manner
Kakegawa is a 30–50 minute taxi from the berth, so it is a half-day choice. The keep, the palace and the tea house take about 75 minutes together, seven minutes' walk from the station.
Things worth knowing
- Be at the gate for 9:00. The castle opens then, and the tour coaches arrive after.
- The Ninomaru Museum is closed on Mondays, so on the 2027 call day the keep, palace and tea house are the visit.
- Kakegawa Station is a Kodama stop: Hamamatsu 11 minutes, Shizuoka 13 minutes. A long call can add lunch in Hamamatsu, but nothing more.
- Book early if you want the ship’s tour. Princess passengers have found Kakegawa tours full months out, and there is no local operator to fall back on.
- Tenshu天守 — The keep. Kakegawa's 1994 tenshu was the first in modern Japan rebuilt in wood rather than concrete.
- Goten御殿 — The lord's palace: ceremonial hall, residence and offices in one. Four survive at Japanese castles.
Kakegawa Castle and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 3 hr goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
40 minutes each way is the measured figure for taxi 30–50 min each way, 32–35 km; about ¥12,500 on the meter each way, our estimate, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 40 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
How do I get to Kakegawa Castle from the cruise ship?
By taxi or ship’s tour. Omaezaki has no railway; the castle is about 35 km from West Wharf No. 2, a 30–50 minute drive, roughly ¥12,500 each way by our distance-only estimate. The taxi fleet is small, so book an hourly hire in advance: ¥3,850 per 30 minutes under the official tariff. From Kakegawa Station the castle is a 7-minute walk.
Is Kakegawa Castle open every day?
The keep and the palace open every day, 9:00–17:00 with last entry at 16:30, for ¥410. The Ninomaru Museum closes on Mondays and the Ninomaru tea house opens daily 9:30–17:00.
Is Kakegawa Castle suitable for limited mobility?
The palace is on one level but you remove shoes. The keep’s wooden stairs are steep, and the ship tours describe the outing as moderate and not wheelchair-accessible. The grounds and the tea house garden are the gentle option.
Routes that already include it
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
4 hr 20 min for bothCape Park and the Marine Park shore
Two free, always-open stretches of the cape.
See the detail → 4 hr 30 min for bothNabura Market seafood lunch
The fish hall and food hall beside the fishing port, named for the fishermen’s word for a school of bonito.
See the detail →
4 hr 30 min for bothSakura-ebi or raw shirasu from Suruga Bay
The small pink shrimp of Suruga Bay is fished at night in spring and autumn.
See the detail →