Imabari Castle 3.45

Imabari Castle 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 Ōita Prefecture.HistoryThis castle was constructed by Tōdō Takatora, a local daimyō. 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.