History of Kanazawa Castle

The site of Kanazawa Castle first appears in history as Kanazawa Mido Temple. It was a branch temple of the Hongwanji Buddhist sect, built in 1546. A town formed around the temple, making it a center of religious devotion.

In 1580, Kanazawa Mido Temple was captured by Shibata Katsuie, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga operating under his orders. Katsuie's nephew, Sakuma Morimasa, was subsequently made the first lord of Kanazawa Castle.

Following Oda Nobunaga's death in Kyoto in 1582, Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Morimasa were defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the ensuing power struggle.
Maeda Toshiie, then the feudal lord ruling the Noto region, sided with Hideyoshi, and took Kanazawa Castle. Under his leadership, the castle and its surrounding castle town underwent significant development.

While there are very few early maps and documents of Kanazawa Castle, it is estimated that its structure differed significantly from the castle's present form.

Kanazawa Castle's development began under the first two lords of the Maeda clan, Toshiie, and his son Toshinaga. Initially, the castle complex was centered around the elevated areas of Honmaru and Higashinomaru. The tenshu (keep), an iconic structure in Japanese castles, also stood in Honmaru. However, it was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1602 and never rebuilt; instead, a watchtower called the Sankai Yagura was constructed.

A major fire in the castle town in 1631 destroyed the castle's core structures, including Honmaru Palace. Following this fire, the third lord, Toshitsune, relocated the castle's center from Honmaru to Ninomaru, where a vast palace was constructed. By this time, the layout of Kanazawa Castle centered on the Ninomaru was finalized, and has been maintained ever since.

In 1632, the Tatsumi Canal opened, drawing water from the Saigawa River and supplying an abundance of water to the castle grounds.

In 1759, the castle town suffered its largest fire to date, completely destroying the main structures of Kanazawa Castle. The following year, reconstruction of the Ninomaru Palace and other buildings, along with the restoration of the stone walls, began.
The extant Ishikawa-mon Gate was rebuilt in 1788.

In 1808, roughly 50 years later, Ninomaru Palace and the Hishi Yagura were once again destroyed in another fire. Although the Kaga Domain faced financial difficulties at the time, donations of money and materials were made by retainers and subjects, allowing the castle to be rebuilt within about three years. At this time, the reconstructed Ninomaru Palace featured two Noh stages and a large hall, making it larger than before the fire.

Despite repeated destruction by fire and subsequent rebuilding, Kanazawa Castle continued to develop alongside its castle town as the political and cultural center of the Kaga Domain, making it the most powerful of Japan's domains.

In 1871, the Edo shogunate was brought to an end, and administration by the new government began, leading the grounds of Kanazawa Castle to come under jurisdiction of the military.
Remaining structures like Ninomaru Palace were used as barracks and warehouses, but a fire in 1881 destroyed most of the structures.
Only three structures have been preserved to the present: Ishikawa-mon Gate, Sanjikken-nagaya Storehouse, and Tsurumaru Storehouse.

Kanazawa University was founding in 1949, following World War II, and the castle grounds were used as the university campus. In 1996, the university relocated, and Ishikawa Prefecture has since been developing the site as Kanazawa Castle Park.