Fukui Prefectural Office

The prefectural government office stands on the site of the main keep of Fukui Castle, in the center of Fukui City. Surrounded on all four sides by a moat and stone walls, the office building sits right at the heart of the former castle, a sight rarely seen anywhere else in Japan. The area was once the castle town of Shibata Katsuie's Kitanoshō Castle, a place where history from the warring states era into the early modern period overlaps.

Visiting Information

• Visiting the Fukui Castle ruins is free
• The moat, stone walls, keep base, and more can be viewed freely

A Prefectural Office on Castle Ruins

An inner moat surrounds the main keep site on all sides, and you cross the Gohonjō Bridge to enter the grounds. The block where the prefectural office and the prefectural police headquarters stand is the very heart of the former castle, protected by the moat and stone walls. Walking along the edge of the moat, you can clearly sense that this was once a castle.

Yūki Hideyasu and Fukui Castle

Fukui Castle was built in 1606 by Yūki Hideyasu, the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. From then on it was the residence from which the Echizen-Matsudaira family ruled Echizen for about 270 years. A keep of four roofs and five floors, 28 meters tall, once rose here. After it burned in a fire in the early Edo period, the keep was never rebuilt, and today only its stone base remains.

A Place Tied to Shibata Katsuie

Before Fukui Castle was built, this area was home to Shibata Katsuie's Kitanoshō Castle. In 1583, Katsuie was defeated at the Battle of Shizugatake and ended his life here together with his wife, Oichi. The city of Fukui grew outward from the castle town that Katsuie founded.

The Fukunoi Well and the Origin of the Name

Near the keep base remains an old well known as the Fukunoi. Said to have existed even before Fukui Castle was built, it is also held to be the origin of the place name Fukui. It is a modest landmark that carries the castle's history into the present.

A Reconstructed Gate and Bridge

Along the moat, the Orōka Bridge (reconstructed in 2008), once reserved for the feudal lord, and the Yamazatoguchi Gate (reconstructed in 2018), which guarded the approach to the keep base, have been brought back. As you stroll, you can trace what remains of the castle. In spring, the cherry blossoms along the moat reach their peak.