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Shikano Castle Town

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

Researched and written by Hinato

Shikanocastle townKamei clanmoatscherry blossom

Tottori · Tottori City

35.4589°N, 134.0626°E

Tottori keeps its history in places like Shikano Castle Town rather than in museums about it.

Shikano was the seat of the Kamei family in the Sengoku period, and the street plan they laid out is still there — a grid of narrow lanes with the inner and outer moats of the castle surviving as water. It is a very small town in the hills south-west of Tottori city, quiet to the point of being sleepy, and it has none of the visitor infrastructure that Kurayoshi has.

The castle site is now a park, and in April its five hundred somei-yoshino come out around the moats and are lit at night, so that the trees and the walls repeat themselves in the water. Outside that fortnight the town is essentially empty. Parking is free, the hot spring at Hamamura is ten minutes away, and it is the sort of place you stop at because you were driving past rather than because anyone told you to.

Plan your visit

Hours

Streets and castle park open at all times | Evening illumination during the April cherry blossom period

Closed: Open year-round

Time to allow

60–90 minutes

Admission

Free | Around 100 parking spaces, generally free

Best time to visit

April for cherry blossom around the moats | Year-round for the empty streets

Getting there

Directions

Shikano, Shikano-cho, Tottori. By car from JR Tottori Station, from JR Hamamura Station, or 5–from Hamamura-Shikano-Onsen IC on the San'in Expressway. Free to visit. Around 100 parking spaces, generally free with some paid areas. Cherry blossom in the castle park peaks in April with evening illumination.

Beyond the guidebook

**April is the fortnight.** Five hundred cherry trees around the moats, lit at night, reflected in the water. For the other fifty weeks this is a quiet grid of lanes. **Walk the moats.** Both the inner and outer moats survive as water, which is unusual for a castle site of this size, and following them is the way to read the plan. **There is very little open.** A few small businesses and craft workshops. Do not plan on lunch without checking. **Hamamura Onsen is ten minutes away.** Which is the natural pairing and where the accommodation is. **Free parking for a hundred.** Which tells you what the cherry blossom fortnight looks like and what the rest of the year does not.

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