Hikone Castle

Hikone Castle

Lawrence Technological University

August 17, 2015

O’Connor, Thomas (photograph)

Single Built Works

April, 1972

Japan (nation)

Hikone (inhabited place)

Japanese architecture styles

castles (fortifications)

tower houses (defensive structures)

Exterior view of the main tower (Tenshu) at Hikone Castle in Japan. "The construction of Hikone Castle and its castle town began in 1604, over 400 years ago, and took about twenty years to complete. The center of the castle complex and castle town was the main tower, or tenshu (also referred to as a donjon), which is situated in the main compound (or honmaru). A tenshu is the main keep and the most defining feature of a Japanese castle. Although previous castles usually had a defensible structure for residence and/or administration, the architecturally distinct tenshu was first constructed during the late Warring States (Sengoku) period. The daimyo of the Hikone domain, in fact, rarely visited the Tenshu, which served mainly as storage for the suits of armors worn by the successive lords of the Ii family. As previously mentioned, rather than a military fortification, the Tenshu of Hikone Castle, looking out over the castle town, was primarily a symbolic projection of the authority of the Hikone domain,"--HikoneCity website.

wood (plant material)

stone (worked rock)

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LTU-TOJ-592