Hikone Castle (Hikone)

 castle, museum, place with historical importance, cultural heritage / national heritage, picturesque, interesting place, moated castle

Hikone Castle (彦根城; -jō) is the most famous historical site in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. This Edo period castle traces its origin to 1603 when Ii Naokatsu, son of the former daimyo Ii Naomasa, ordered its construction. The keep was originally built in 1575, as part of Ōtsu castle, and was moved to Hikone by the Ii. It was completed in 1622. Naokatsu's lands had been taken from him in the interval by the Tokugawa shogunate, and when his brother Naotake assumed control of the area around Omi Province, he was able to complete the castle by collecting stones from the former Sawayama castle.

When the Meiji era began in 1868, many castles were scheduled to be dismantled, and only a request from the emperor himself, touring the area, kept Hikone Castle intact. Today it remains one of the oldest original-construction castles in Japan. Hikone Castle was designated a National Treasure by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 1952.