Okazaki Castle

Every Tokugawa shogun for two and a half centuries traces back to this spot: Ieyasu was born inside Okazaki Castle, spent part of his childhood as a hostage elsewhere, and came back to rule the Mikawa province from here. The keep you see is a 1959 reconstruction in concrete, three roofs outside and five floors inside, built to look much as the old one did. It was refitted and reopened in January 2023 with new interactive displays and a theatre room that projects old maps of the castle town. Inside is stairs only, no lift, and the top floor has windows over the Yahagi River and the city. The stone walls below are the rough, uncut nozura-zumi type. Okazaki Park around it covers about 10 hectares, with statues of Ieyasu and his general Honda Tadakatsu, roughly 800 Somei-yoshino cherry trees and a wisteria trellis. The Ieyasu-kan museum next door, on his life and the Mikawa samurai, has a moving diorama of the Battle of Sekigahara; a joint ticket costs 650 yen. The walk from Meitetsu Higashi-Okazaki Station takes about 15 minutes.