Oshi Castle

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Oshi Castlefloating castleGyodatabisiege

Photo: Yoshio Kohara / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0) · original

What Oshi Castle looked like originally and what it looks like now are two different stories — both worth knowing before you arrive.

Oshi Castle held out in 1590 when Ishida Mitsunari, under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, dammed the surrounding rivers and tried to drown it. The embankment failed, the flood turned back on the besiegers, and the castle was still standing when the Hojo surrendered elsewhere — which is why it is remembered as the floating castle and why the 2012 film built around the siege carried that name. The defending commander, Narita Nagachika, was not a soldier by reputation and the local nickname for him was closer to fool than hero.

What stands now is a 1988 reconstruction of the three-tiered turret on the original honmaru, with the city's history museum attached. Gyoda's other trade is under the same roof: the town made most of Japan's tabi socks, and the surviving brick and mud-walled warehouses are scattered through the streets around the castle.

Plan your visit

Hours

Gyoda City Local Museum 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM (no entry after 4:00 PM) | Castle grounds open at all hours

Closed: Grounds open year-round

Time to allow

1.5–2 hours including the museum and the tabi warehouse streets

Admission

¥200 high school students and over | ¥50 elementary and junior high school | Free to walk the castle grounds

Best time to visit

Late March–early April for cherry blossom around the moat | Year-round otherwise

Access route

Directions

Honmaru 17-23, Gyoda City. About a short walk from Gyoda-shi Station on the Chichibu Railway; by bus from Gyoda Station on the JR Takasaki Line. Admission ¥200 for high school students and over, ¥50 elementary and junior high school. Closed Mondays, the day after public holidays, the fourth Friday of each month and over the new year, with exceptions during special exhibitions. The castle grounds are free.

What locals know

**The siege is the reason to come.** Mitsunari built a 28-kilometre embankment to flood the castle and it broke, drowning his own camp. The museum covers it properly and the surviving stretch of the embankment can still be traced south of the town. **Two hundred yen, and the turret is included.** One of the cheapest castle museums in Japan and the exhibition on tabi manufacture is better than the price suggests. **The tabi warehouses are the walking route.** Gyoda made most of Japan's split-toed socks and around eighty storehouses survive in the streets, several converted to cafes and shops. A map is available at the museum. **Zeri-furai for lunch.** Gyoda's local snack is a flat okara-and-potato fritter dipped in sauce, sold from small shops around the castle, and the name has nothing to do with jelly or with fried fish. **Closed on the fourth Friday.** An unusual closing day that catches people out. Check before travelling.

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