Kasumigajo Park and Maruoka Castle

Beautiful park at the foot of Maruoka Castle in Fukui

Takako Sakamoto Aug 06, 2014 - 1 min read

<p>Maruoka Castle, the oldest wooden castle still standing on Japanese soil. The castle ruins were made into Kasumigajo Park and there's only the main keep left in the ruins</p>

<p>Famous weeping cherry tree in Kasumigajo Park. Maruoka Castle and this park are known as one of the 100 best hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots in Japan</p>

<p>From the main tower of Maruoka Castle, you go down the stone stairs to get to the park</p>

<p>There's a pretty walkaway surrounding the entire stone wall of Maruoka Castle. You can enjoy a leisurely stroll while appreciating the traditional beauty of the wooden castle and lush green of the park</p>

<p>Kasumigajo Park viewed from the stone steps leading to it</p>

<p>Stone monument of the 400th anniversary of Maruoka Castle. Kasumigajo Park was built in 1979 as a Japanese garden on the castle ruins, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the castle</p>

<p>Maruoka Castle History Museum. It was built in 1979 along with the park, celebrating the 400th anniversary of Maruoka Castle</p>

<p>Bright orange fat koi (carp) swishing about in the water</p>

<p>Stone lantern and green trees in the park</p>

<p>You can look up at the main tower of Maruoka Castle from the park</p>

<p>Narrow stream floating around the garden. Intentionally or unintentionally, there wasn't any water in it when I visited</p>

<p>Stone lantern standing beside the narrow stream</p>

Kasumigajo Park is a beautiful park/garden located at the foot of Maruoka Castle in Sakai city, Fukui. It was built on the castle's ruins in 1979 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the castle. It is landscaped as a traditional Japanese garden. Maruoka Castle and Kasumigajo Park are one of the 100 best hanami (cherry blossom viewing) spots in Japan, and people come to see the beautiful sakura (cherry trees) in spring. Maruoka Castle is also known as Kasumi-ga-jo (Castle in the Mist), and so the park was named after this other name. This area is called Kasumi-cho (Mist-town), because of its misty weather, but there might be another, supernatural reason why it often gets misty. If you are interested to know why, please read this other article!

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Takako Sakamoto @takako.sakamoto

I was born in and grew up in Tokushima prefecture, and have lived in many places since then: Nishinomiya, Kyoto, Nara, Mie, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Fukuoka and Fukui. I am currently living in Yokohama City. All the places I lived, all the places I visited, I have loved dearly. The histor...