Fukoka Castle Ruins

We tried to invade the castle but got lost instead

The Fukuoka Castle ruins are apart of the larger Maizuru Park, which is one of the main parks in the city. It used to be the largest castle in the southern province of Kyushu, but was torn down during the Meiji Restoration when Japan wanted to move away from a feudal society and modernize the country.

Our visit to the castle ruins was an exciting journey. Over the previous few days I’d been brainstorming ideas for a fiction novel and when we arrived at the edge of the castle grounds, I imagined us storming the castle.

The invasion didn’t go so well though, because we didn’t know exactly where the main entrance was. Ha! Perhaps it is a testament to the castle’s design that we got lost circling the lower levels. We ran into a Thai family who asked us where the main keep was, but we couldn’t help them because we didn’t know either! It took us a complete loop around the castle grounds to find the path to the inner sanctuary and the foundation of the main keep.

Today, all that remains are the castle walls — which are impressive. They are tall and create a maze-like path if you don’t have a map. The main keep is gone, but there is a lookout platform from which we saw the cityscape.

Once we’d reached the main keep, we were able to exit the castle much more quickly. Much of the original moat still exists and is now filled with lily pads.

Beside the castle is Ohori Park. The central feature is a large pond with two islands connected to the shore by bridges. We particularly enjoyed this evening walk through the islands. One day, I’d like to design a park with a large water feature and several bridges between islands.