Fukuoka Castle

Completed in the early Edo period for tozama daimyō Kuroda Nagamasa, it has been decreed a historic site by the Japanese government.

Much of the castle grounds has been converted to Maizuru Park, which houses several sports facilities, a courthouse, and an art museum.

Heiwadai Baseball Stadium, the past home field of the Nishitetsu Lions and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, was also located on the castle grounds.

Some of the castle's gates as well as its towers and turrets, known as yaguras, are preserved inside the park, one of which has been marked as an important historical artifact by the Japanese government.

Najima Castle was located on a peninsula projecting into Hakata Bay on the north of the estuary of the Tatara River.

However, when the aspects of politics and economics were considered, it turned out to be undesirable as the administrative centre of the province, for it seemed impossible to construct an extensive castle town because of the river on the south, the sea on the north and the west, and the foothills on the east.

Accordingly, Nagamasa and Josui made a survey of four sites: Sumiyoshi, Hakozaki, Aratsu-yama hill (present-day Nishi-kōen Park), and Fukuzaki.

Fukuzaki, in the proximity of Hakata, was a place where a castle town could easily be constructed, and it was valuable as a naval port; furthermore, it had geostrategic advantages; it was surrounded by a cove, rivers, and hills.

An old document suggests that Kuroda Nagamasa planned a gate and its surrounding area after many consultations with his distinguished commanding officers.

An analysis of their composition reveals that they came from the islands of Noko-no-shima, Itoshima, Sawara and Kashii, and the region from Noma to Teratsuka.

According to old books, the stones and buildings of the dismantled Najima Castle were shipped to Fukuoka and the stones which had been used for the Genko Borui walls (walls built to thwart the Mongolian invaders) and the ancient burial mounds in and around Hirao village and the Hirao-yama hills were also reused for Fukuoka Castle.

For the castle construction, wealthy merchants, Kamiya Sotan and Shimai Soshitsu, provided greatly appreciated financial help.

A map made in the early 17th century shows a residence bounded by yaguras, walls, and nagayas (long structures).

Another illustrated map of the castle made during the reign of the third lord, Kuroda Mitsuyuki, has a note about this kuruwa which says, "Ni-no-maru, the residence of Hizen-no-kami."

In Fukuoka Castle, the mizunote was built with a catchment reservoir which, in times of siege, also played the role of a sutebori-moat which forced the enemies to take a roundabout way to attack.

In addition to the sutebori-moat, there was an L-shaped obi-guruwa along the sides of the hon-maru and Ni-no-maru, enabling simultaneous defensive fire from various levels.

These residences were continuously occupied by principal retainers from the time of the castle's completion through the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The structural divisions depicted on the map of "The Intelligence Report on the Provinces of Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hizen and Higo", which was written by a shōgun's shinobi and compiled in Kan'ei-4 (1627), probably reflect the early days of this castle.

The "Illustrated Map of All Fukuoka and Hakata", made in Shōhō-3 (1646), shows different structural divisions in the western section.

The residence contained an audience chamber where the lord met with his retainers, the lord's living quarters, a large and a small study, a lesson room, secretaries' office, a recording room, a finance department office, anterooms for principal retainers and five commissioners, an apartment complex for court ladies, a kitchen, a granary which stored the five primary food staples, a charcoal storehouse, an archive, a treasury storehouse, a noh stage, and no less than 15 wells.

Facing the Oimawashi Gateway lies the Uemono-kuruwa where the wall stones bear many types of seals carved into them.

These seals indicate the groups belonging to different principle retainers at the quarries which provided stones for the castle's construction.

On the north side, although most of the mound is damaged, it can be inferred that it was about 10 metres above sea level if we consider the detailed accounts of "The Illustrated Map of All Fukuoka and Hakata".

In Keicho 20 (1615), the mound was planted with pine trees that acted as shitomi-uemono (visual barriers), prevented landslides, and served as windbreaks, as flaming torches, as building materials, and as emergency food.

On the western and eastern sides, the mound lines have many ori (cremaillere, a front or face with receding steps, which consists of short and long branches) which permit flanking fire.

By the mid-17th century, the Ohori Moat, formed by reclaiming and dredging a large cove at the time of castle construction, was filled with sediment and the Torikai area was drained and turned into grassy land.

Accordingly, during the period of Empo (1673–1689), the area that was turned into land was developed into rice fields, and the Odote Causeway was built along the shorelines.

This may be the church built in memory of Kuroda Josui, which is mentioned in an annual report of a Jesuit missionary to Japan.

The defensive lines of this mercantile city probably appeared during the time of the Mongolian invasions in the late 13th century, when a series of walls was constructed to thwart the invaders.

The O-shita-no-yashiki Residence was then used as the government center of Fukuoka Prefecture, a new regional administrative unit which adopted the name of the castle.