See Marugame Castle, one of only 12 castles surviving to the modern day, and relive history in the townscape of Honjima Island.
Both places will transport you to the storied Edo period (1603-1867), when the seafaring island of Honjima was home to a navy—pirates to some—feared throughout the Seto Inland Sea.
Nowadays, enjoy a pleasant and safe ferry ride from Marugame to Honjima Island.
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JR Marugame Station
- Time required
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1 day
JR Marugame Station- 15-minute walk
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1Marugame Castle
Marugame Castle overlooks the city of Marugame, the largest population center in western Kagawa Prefecture, from a hill called Kameyama. It is one of only 12 castles in Japan with a surviving wooden keep from the Edo period (1603–1867). The original castle was built between 1597 and 1602 by the Ikoma family, lords of Sanuki province (present-day Kagawa Prefecture). It switched hands from one daimyo lord to another and was modified and rebuilt several times over the centuries, notably by the Kyogoku family that controlled it throughout most of the Edo period. The castle was officially decommissioned after the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended samurai rule over Japan. Its distinctive three-story keep dates to 1660 and is, at 15 meters high, the smallest of the 12 remaining structures of its kind in the country. The keep, along with the Ote Ichino and Ote Nino gates, is designated an Important Cultural Property. Besides its buildings, the castle is noted for its imposing ramparts, which are thought to have made the fortress extremely difficult to invade. The ramparts, the highest of which measures 22 meters from top to bottom, form four terraces between the inner moat and the keep.
Ote Ichino Gate (Marugame Castle)
The Ote Ichino Gate on the north side of Marugame Castle was the fortress’s last line of defense. It was intended to stop enemies who had made it past the east-facing Ote Nino Gate and through the masugata, a square between the two gates placed at right angles to each other to slow down attackers. Both gates were built in 1670 by the Kyogoku family, which controlled the castle at the time and sought to reinforce its defenses. The castle entrance originally faced south, but the Kyogoku moved it to the opposite side and constructed the twin gates to complement the high stone walls of the fortress, which had already made it extremely difficult to storm. The two gates, along with the castle’s wooden keep, have been designated Important Cultural Properties.
The roof of the gate is decorated with onigawara tiles and shachihoko sculptures on both ends. The former are ornaments that depict the fierce face of an ogre (oni), believed to scare away demons and evil spirits, while the latter are fish-shaped figures that were thought to protect a structure from fire by spraying water from their mouths. The two-story interior of the gate, which is open to visitors, is distinguished by its six brattices, or alcoves with removable floorboards. These were features designed for use by defenders to shoot or throw objects at enemies below. Ote Ichino is also referred to as Taikomon (“drum gate”), because the castle lord’s retainers would beat drums within the gate to announce the time. This practice was revived in 2006, and drums are now used to announce noon from the gate every day.More Details
- 20-minute walk
- Marugame Port
- Tomari Port on Honjima Island
- 10-minute walk
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2Shiwaku Kinbansho
Shiwaku Kinbansho is the former government office of the Shiwaku archipelago, and it’s located at Honjima island which have been center of the archipelago.
The Shiwaku archipelago is a chain of 28 small islands between Okayama Prefecture and Kagawa Prefecture.
This area have been vital for trade and maritime traffic since ancient times, and furthermore, the inhabitants were experts in navigating the often-perilous currents. Thus, they became known as the Shiwaku Navy in the sixteenth century.
As a reult, these mariners were held in high regard by some of the most powerful warlords of the time in Japan.
Moreover the Shiwaku archipelago was given special permission to self-govern by the early seventeenth century, and the island’s leaders, known as “elders”, were in charge of running the government.
Its government office was Shiwaku Kinbansho.More Details
- 15-minute walk
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3Kasashima（Honjima Island）
Honjima: A Hub of Maritime History
The island of Honjima is located in the Seto Inland Sea off the coast of Kagawa Prefecture, west of the Seto Ohashi Bridge, and can be reached in 35 minutes by ferry from the city of Marugame. Honjima is the second-largest of the 28 Shiwaku islands and the most populous, though only about 400 people live on it. The island has an illustrious history, having been a prosperous seafaring center from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.
This history is on display in the port town of Kasashima, in the eastern part of Honjima, where some 100 buildings constructed mainly between the beginning of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century survive. Surrounded by hills on three sides, the town occupies the base of a narrow valley and is laid out in a grid pattern. Its passageways are lined with traditional merchant family homes, some modest, others the grand estates of households whose members built their fortunes in shipbuilding and carpentry. Kasashima is designated a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Three of these buildings are open to the public, including the Sanagi House, a merchant’s home that dates to the latter half of the Edo period (1603–1867). The house includes a facility where visitors can learn about the history and preservation of the town. Its distinctive exterior walls are decorated with namako, a diamond pattern achieved with thick white plaster joints laid over black tiles, originally developed to protect earthen walls from water.
The Kasashima townscape can be viewed from above by climbing 15 minutes from the bottom of the valley to the summit of the 110-meter Mt. Tomiyama. Here, a scenic view spot affords vistas over the settlement and toward the island-dotted sea. The entire length of the Seto Ohashi Bridge is also visible from this point.More Details
Restaurants in this area
