Odawara-jô, or Odawara Castle, is a reconstructed fortress in the town of Odawara in western Kanagawa Prefecture along the coast. Originally built in the 15th century C.E. during the Sengoku Period, the castle was the starting ground for the Hojo clan’s expansion of power through much of central Japan and the Kanto region into modern day Chiba, Ibaraki, and Saitama Prefectures. The Hojo clan was known for being the ruling clan during the Kamakura Period (1180-1333 C.E.) before the Seige of Kamakura in 1333 saw most of the ruling members dead either in battle or by mass suicide at their temple in the mountains above the city. Until the chaos of the Sengoku Jidai gave them a chance to return to prominance, the Hojo clan was reduced to a minor clan in eastern Japan. The Hojo used this castle to fight of famous warlords like Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi (second of the Three Great Unifiers) . They had a strong hold over the region from this castle until they lost in their battle against Toyotomi Hideyoshi in a seige in 1590. After the battle, the castle was given to Tokugawa Ieyasu (third of the Three Great Unifiers) who was then an ally of Toyotomi until his death when Ieyasu made his successful power play to unite all of Japan to form the Edo Period (1603-1869 C.E.). The castle was dismantled in 1870 with the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the restablishment of imperial power under Emperor Meiji. The current castle was rebuilt in 1960 based on diagrams and models of the castle during the Edo Period. It is the nearest castle keep to the central Tokyo area.

For visitors: 7.

Odawara-jô is a great castle to visit when you want to get out of the busy Tokyo center. It’s also very easy to get to if you are also planning to go to Hakone, or you’re leaving Hakone and want a fun stop before moving on to your next destination. The castle is accessable by local train, bus, and the shinkansen bullet train.

What’s really nice about the castle is the landscaping. I know that’s a rather odd thing to say, but I really mean it. The castle has many of the same features you’ll see at almost any castle. There’s a keep which requires a ticket to enter, there’s a museum of samurai on the grounds and artifacts within the keep itself, and there’s a ninja museum. Ok, I probably should’ve mentioned that sooner. Also, it’s not common to have a ninja museum at a castle; in fact I think this is the only one I know of which does. So forget everything I said before. The point is, the landscaping (you forgot I was talking about this didn’t you) is really a star of the grounds. For a fortification near the sea, it’s already difficult to take a bad photo, but with seasonal gardens and eye-pleasing layouts, it just makes every photo that much better without even trying. When I was there I got to take some beautiful photos and I don’t think I had to work that hard to capture them. Odawara-jô is just a really great place to walk around, breathe in the sea air, and enjoy a visual slip into the past.