Documents on the Tenshu and the Three‑Story Turret

The tenshu (main keep) of Kanazawa Castle was constructed by Maeda Toshiie. After Toshiie became the lord of Kanazawa Castle in 1583 (Tenshō 11), it is believed that the tenshu was built between 1586 and 1587 (Tenshō 14–15). However, no drawings or plans indicating its structure have been discovered, and even its precise location remains unknown.   After Toshiie’s death, during the rule of the second lord, Toshinaga, the tenshu was destroyed by lightning on October 30, 1602 (Keichō 7). Hideyasu Yūki, then lord of Fukui Castle, reported the destruction of Kanazawa Castle in a letter sent to his younger brother, Tokugawa Hidetada, who was in Edo at the time.

In the year following the lightning strike, a three‑story turret was built to replace the destroyed tenshu. Drawings of its elevation still survive, showing that the structure had three tiers, with a balcony surrounding the top floor and namako‑kabe (sea‑cucumber plaster) applied to the lower walls of the first story. The turret was destroyed in the great fire of 1631 (Kan’ei 8) but was soon rebuilt. It burned down again in the major fire of 1759 (Hōreki 9), after which it was never reconstructed. Although the Maeda clan ruled a vast domain known as the “Million‑Koku Domain,” it is believed that they refrained from rebuilding the tenshu out of consideration for the Edo shogunate, as tozama (outside) lords