Visiting Odawara Castle

One of the biggest castles in Japan

Shehzad Lokhandwalla Sep 25, 2013 - 1 min read

A picture Odawara castle taken from a nearby hill. The enclosure of Odawara castle has a perimeter of 15km.

Odawara castle at night. The castle is lit up all night, but yet the area can be a little spooky!

Map of Odawara castle area. You can see how complicated the entrance of the castle is! This was done so that enemies had a difficult time entering it.

Inside the tower there is a small exhibition of antiques.

There are many shrines and temples surrounding the main tower.

There is a beautiful pond near the castle that is filled with Koi fish.

The magnificent Odawara castle sparkling at night

The Odawara castle was built in the 15th century by Daimyo Hojo Soun. It was demolished in the 19th century by the Meji government. In 1960 the castle was rebuilt, and today it is a 5 storied castle on the top of a beautiful hill.

This castle used to have a huge enclosure of 15km. There also used to be a mini clone castle that disguised the main tower from enemies.

Not only is this castle big, but is also very beautiful. It is surrounded by a lot of vegetation. And just near the entrance, the pathway is decorated with cherry blossom trees. The tower has a lot of antiques still preserved. Unfortunately you cannot take pictures, but the 400 yen entrance fee is surely worth it. On the 5th floor you can get a panoramic view of the city and the area surrounding the castle.

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Find out more about Odawara Castle.

Shehzad Lokhandwalla @shehzad.lokhandwalla

I'm a student at the University of California, Davis and I love traveling and photography. I'm currently interning with JapanTourist as a photojournalist, and immersing myself into Japanese culture. Two random facts about me: I am left handed/ambidextrous and have visited more than 30 countri...