Nagoya Castle and the City's Other Historic Sites
TripToJapan.com Editorial Team
Aug 14, 2026
Contents
The single most important thing to know before visiting Nagoya Castle is that you cannot go inside the keep. The main tower has been closed to entry since May 2018 on earthquake-safety grounds, and the plan to replace the 1959 concrete reconstruction with a faithful wooden one is not expected to produce a building before the early 2030s.
That is worth saying up front because almost every guide still promises panoramic views from the top floor and exhibits inside the tower. Neither is available, and has not been for years.
What you can do is walk through a completely rebuilt palace interior that is arguably better than the keep ever was, stand under two golden dolphins, and see one of the finest collections of samurai-era art in Japan a few stops away. Here is how to spend a day on it, and what everything costs.
Nagoya Castle
Nagoya Castle
Nagoya Castle was built between 1610 and 1612 on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had twenty feudal lords finance it between them as a way of draining their treasuries. It guarded the Tokaido road and housed a branch of the Tokugawa family for two and a half centuries.
It survived until 14 May 1945, when an American air raid burned the keep and the palace to the ground. The keep was rebuilt in ferroconcrete in 1959, and that building is what stands today, closed and awaiting a decision.
The golden shachihoko, the tiger-headed dolphins on the roof ridge, are the city's emblem. The current pair are replicas, since the originals were lost in the fire.
What You Can Actually Enter
Hommaru Palace is the reason to come. The original was a shogunal residence considered one of the finest examples of shoin-zukuri architecture in Japan, and it was destroyed in the same raid. A full reconstruction, using traditional joinery and hand-copied wall paintings, took ten years and opened in 2018.
It is astonishing. The cypress smells new, the gold-leaf screens are painted with tigers and leopards by the Kano school, and because it is a reconstruction you walk through the rooms rather than peering into them. It opens 9:00 to 16:00 and is included in the castle admission.
Ninomaru Garden, the daimyo garden east of the keep, is open and free to walk within the castle grounds.
Nishinomaru Okura Museum, near the main gate, holds the castle's own collection and is also included.
The three surviving corner turrets, which are Important Cultural Properties and did survive the war, are normally closed and open only for occasional special viewings.
Admission and Hours
Admission is ¥500 for adults, free for junior high school students and younger. From 1 October 2026 that doubles to ¥1,000. A combined ticket with Tokugawaen garden rises from ¥640 to ¥1,040, and the annual pass from ¥2,000 to ¥4,000 on the same date.
The castle opens 9:00 to 16:30 with last entry at 16:00, and closes from 29 December to 1 January. The official site carries the current details.
Getting there is simple: Shiyakusho Station on the Meijo subway line, exit 7, about five minutes on foot.
Location: 1-1 Honmaru, Naka Ward, Nagoya 460-0031
