Inuyama Castle Historical Walking Tour

Inuyama Castle stands on a bluff above the Kiso River, the old boundary between Owari and Mino. Its keep is one of only twelve in Japan to survive from before the modern era, and one of five designated National Treasures. Tradition dates the castle to 1537 and Oda Nobuyasu, Nobunaga's uncle; historians continue to examine when the present keep was actually built, and that question is part of the story.

A border castle changes hands. Inuyama passed between Oda kinsmen, Toyotomi allies and Tokugawa retainers, and in 1584 it was seized at the opening of the Komaki-Nagakute campaign. From 1617 it belonged to the Naruse family, who held it through the Edo period and, unusually, again after the Meiji era. The walk continues through the castle town below, where the street plan of the old jōkamachi still shapes how you move.