Once lost, the castle tower of Ozu Castle has been restored to the present day through a series of miracles.
Drawing upon the very best techniques, the castle was rebuilt in 2004.
The project was made possible only with the support of excavation and the discovery of historical design documents, as well as the wishes of the citizens and their generous donations.
Have great time in luxurious comfort at the fully restored Ozu Castle that was restored based on the original Edo era model.
The traveler can stay overnight at Ozu Castle including the castle tower and the two turrets which are national important cultural properties. We relive history as if going back in time and tracing the steps of those from the past.
About the accomodation space →
The lounge and bathhouse are available only to the guests of the Castle Stay, and are located in a panoramic location with an amazing view of Ozu Castle.
About the Castle Lounge →
Ozu is blessed with abundant foods coming from the sea, mountains and rivers. The best ingredients from the Seto Inland Sea and other parts of the region are gathered and prepared with the finest techniques, just as the castle lord commanded.
About the cuisine →
In addition to the programs that only Castle Stay guests can experience, we have prepared programs that allow you to feel and enjoy the charm of Ozu.
About the experience →
For guests staying 2 consecutive nights or more
Guests staying 2 consecutive nights or more can stay in guest rooms renovated from one of former merchant homes located in the part of the town that developed at the foot of the castle
360 degrees VR views of guest rooms →
In Japanese architecture, which is based on wooden structures, design and construction techniques have been handed down to ensure that buildings are maintained and managed in the same way for many years, rather than simply being valued for their antiquity, as seen in the Shikinen Sengu ceremony at Ise Shrine.
Once there were approximately 3,000 castles across the country. However, there are only 17 castles in Japan that still retain their original appearance, including their original design, after the One Castle per Country Order of the Edo period, the Abolition of Castles Order of the Meiji period, and the warfare of World War II.Amongst these, Ozu Castle is the first and only castle where travelers can stay overnight.
Amongst restored wooden castle towers, the castle tower of Ozu Castle is the one that was blessed with the greatest stock of precious archived items and materials.There are old sketch maps from the Edo era, a model of the wooden structure of the castle tower left by the Nakano family, who were the chief craftsmen of the Ozu domain, and old photos taken in 1877.Without those items and materials that have been passed on from one generation to the next, the work of miraculously restoring the castle very close to its original form would never have been accomplished.
The existence of the present Ozu Castle constitutes a history of tremendous endeavors of people in Ozu. Despite many of the buildings of the castle being demolished after the Meiji Restoration, local people stood up and found ways to conserve the castle tower of the center building and the turrets. The turrets are still there and are national important cultural properties. The castle tower had to be once demolished because of deterioration, but was restored in 2004 in the course of a commemorative project of the 50th anniversary of the town acquiring the status of city. The commemorative project owes a lot to the 520 million yen worth of donations from people covering 40 percent of the total construction costs, and the donations from the local timber industry covering 90 percent of the total amount of timber required for the logs and lumber to be used.
To follow very close to the original model, traditional skills and techniques were brought back. Miya daiku architects (specialists in the construction of shrines and temples) and local architects collaborated and put up the wooden structures using no metal nails, covered the roof with kawara tiles on top of thin doifuki sheets of wood attached to the roof using bamboo nails, and applied multiple layers of wall mud on the walls put up using bamboo materials instead of steel. Because of the significant contributions to the conservation of Japan’s traditional woodwork culture and the passage of skills and techniques from one generation to the next, and the castle was awarded the First Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Award and these techniques were registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2020 as traditional building craftsmanship, a technique for palace carpenters and plasterers to inherit Japanese wooden structures.
