Odawara Castle

Attraction > Castle

Odawara Castle (in Japanese; Odawara Jyou 小田原城) has a very colorful history!  Being in a Prime Location it was a target from all sides! On the location a "stronghold" was built in the late 1400's and this "stronghold" went back and forth between many clans before the Hojo Clan took control around 1495.  After the Hojo took control they built the castle up into a formidable structure whereby they ruled the greater Kantou area for the next couple hundred years.  Then in the late 1500's the Hojo Clan and their Odawara castle was once again the center of war when Takeda Shingen attacked and then Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked the castle and finally defeated the Hojo after a long 3 month siege (Battle of Odawara, 1590).  The Tokugawa Shogunate took control and used the castle as a symbol of power to control the region.  Unfortunately, like most castles in the Kantou erea, the castle was ordered to be destroyed by the Meiji government during the Meiji Restoration.