Oct 7, 2014 - 1 min read

Kitano-Sho Castle Ruins in Fukui

Tragic castle burnt down to ashes in the 16th century

By Takako Sakamoto

Community writer

Statue of Shibata Katsuie, the last lord of Kitano-Sho Castle, in Fukui

The memorial stone for Oichi, wife of Shibata Katsuie, who killed herself with him in the burning castle, and for the samurai who died in the battle

When Shibata Katsuie's enemy blocked the waterways and cornered his army, Katsuie, after making his subordinates drink the last water from a jar, broke it in pieces to show his soldiers his determination to win the battle, which gave him the alias, 'Katsuie, the Water Jar Breaker'

Bronze statues of Katsuie's family, from left, Oichi (wife/mother), Chacha (oldest daughter), Go (youngest daughter), Hatsu (second daughter) and Katsuie (husband/father)

A female visitor was taking a photo of the statues of three sisters, and from where I stood, it looked as though they were pointing at each other for some reason...!

The sign explaining that some stones of the original Kitano-Sho Castle's stone wall were excavated on this site

Stones from the original castle built in 1575 by Shibata Katsuie

Fierce statue of Shibata Katsuie with a pine tree in the background

Statues of Shibata Katsuie and his daughters-in-law

Usually, there is a miniature Kitano-Sho Castle standing here. I wonder if a new version will be constructed here again?

A bridge to the Kitano-Sho Castle Ruins Museum

Entrance to the Kitano-Sho Castle Ruins Museum

Kitano-Sho Castle Ruins stands in the middle of multiple-tenant buildings near JR Fukui Station

Kitano-Sho Castle was built in 1575 by Shibata Katsuie, who was given the fiefdom of Echizen province by his master Oda Nobunaga. However, in 1583, he lost The Battle of Shizugatake (present-day Nagahama city in Shiga prefecture), in which he fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was trying to take over Nobunaga's kingdom. Hideyoshi's army pursued them to Katsuie's castle (here), and although they fought to the end, Katsuie and his wife Oichi, a sister of Nobunaga, had to kill themselves in the burning main keep of Kitano-Sho Castle. In 1604, Yuki Hideyasu, a son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was given the fiefdom of Echizen province, and started to build a new castle (Fukui Castle) on the ruins of Kitano-Sho Castle. Now, the castle ruins are landscaped as a park, and inside there are shrines to the souls of Katsuie and his family.