* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Fushimi Castle (Momoyama Castle)
伏見城（桃山城）
Fushimi Castle (Momoyama Castle) is a historic castle in kinki dating from the Built in 1594 (Bunroku 3), whose lord was Toyotomi Hideyoshi / Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Overview
About the Castle
Fushimi Castle was the grand residence built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his later years and stands as a masterpiece symbolizing the Momoyama cultural period in the history of Japanese castle architecture. In the third year of Bunroku (1594), Hideyoshi began construction on a hill in Fushimi near the Yodo River south of Kyoto. Initially envisioned as a quiet retreat for his retirement, it was rapidly expanded to serve as the command center for the Korean campaigns (Bunroku and Keichō invasions) and as a political symbol demonstrating the authority and prestige of the ruler of all Japan. At its height, Fushimi Castle was a castle city centered on a magnificent seven-story keep with five interior stories, encompassing countless turrets and vast palace complexes. Its lavish and resplendent appearance symbolized the flowering of Momoyama culture. The castle's walls were entirely covered with gold-leaf and polychrome screen paintings created by Kanō school painters, and rare treasures brought from China and the Nanban regions were displayed throughout. Hideyoshi's presentation of this castle to the visiting daimyo is considered a meticulously orchestrated display of the pinnacle of his power and wealth.
Historical Events
After collapsing during the Keichō Fushimi earthquake of the first year of Keichō (1596), it was rebuilt and Hideyoshi closed his turbulent life in this castle in the third year of Keichō (1598). He died at age 62, having achieved the unification of Japan yet worried about the future of his young successor Toyotomi Hideyori. Tokugawa Ieyasu subsequently utilized Fushimi Castle as a strategic stronghold against Osaka Castle. On the eve of the Battle of Sekigahara in the fifth year of Keichō (1600), the Battle of Fushimi Castle erupted. Against the massive Western Army of 40,000 troops led by Ishida Mitsunari, a mere 1,800 members of the Eastern Army garrison led by Torii Mototada mounted a desperate siege defense. Mototada received a strict order from Ieyasu to "hold Fushimi," and it is said he resolved to die defending the castle. After more than ten days of siege, Mototada fell in battle and the castle was lost, yet the loyalty displayed in that struggle greatly boosted the morale of the Tokugawa forces at Sekigahara. The "Battle of Fushimi Castle" became an important prelude opening the way to the Battle of Sekigahara and was passed down to posterity as a paragon of samurai loyalty.
Architecture and Remains
After the Battle of Sekigahara, Ieyasu had Fushimi Castle reconstructed as the stage for his shogunal investiture. Even after becoming Seii Taishōgun in the eighth year of Keichō (1603), he continued to use Fushimi as the center of political power. The second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, also received his shogunal investiture there, and Fushimi Castle functioned as the place where Tokugawa shogunate authority was established. In the fifth year of Genwa (1619), it was dismantled under the castle-abandonment edict, and its materials were repurposed at temples and shrines throughout the land. Most famous are the "Blood Ceilings," where floorboards stained with the blood of warriors who fell in the Battle of Fushimi Castle remain preserved as ceiling panels in temples such as Gen'kōan, Yōgen'in, Kōshōji, and Hōsenin. Even now, handprints and footprints are clearly visible on those ceiling boards, and as silent witnesses to the fierce fighting on the eve of Sekigahara, they move many visitors deeply. Standing before these Blood Ceilings, visitors naturally sense themselves transported across time to the carnage of the late Sengoku period.
The Essence of Momoyama Culture
The "Momoyama culture" that bloomed on the stage of Fushimi Castle broke free from the ethereal aesthetics of the medieval period and established a new style of Japanese art characterized by grandeur, brilliance, and realism. Gold-leaf and vividly colored screen paintings, the resplendent designs of warrior armor and sword fittings, and the fusion of exotic crafts brought through Nanban trade—all of these converged on the vast stage that was Fushimi Castle. While the era overlapped with when Sen no Rikyū embodied the spirit of wabi tea, Fushimi Castle's aesthetic sensibility emphasized bold and vigorous power in stark contrast to Rikyū's wabi. The conflict between Hideyoshi and Rikyū ultimately ended in Rikyū's tragic death by seppuku, yet the cultural soil of Fushimi continued to serve as a nursery for all the arts—tea ceremony, calligraphy, painting, and ceramics.
Fushimi Sake and Culture
The region of Fushimi is also renowned as a premier sake-brewing district in Japan. Breweries such as Gekkeikan, Kizakura, and Ōzakura line the streets, using Fushimi's abundant groundwater, known as "Gokōsui" (imperial fragrant water), as their brewing water. Fushimi sake is characterized by its clean, refined flavor and has long maintained its renown as one of Japan's two great sake-producing regions alongside Nada (Kobe). Throughout the Edo period, Fushimi sake was transported by ship to Osaka and Edo, satisfying the palates of sake lovers throughout the nation. Today, the town of Fushimi, with its thousand vermillion torii gates of Fushimi Inari Taisha, has become a tourist destination where castle ruins and sake brewery culture are beautifully merged, attracting millions of visitors annually from throughout Japan and the world. The former castle town still preserves picturesque canals and willow-lined banks near Kiya-chō and Nakashōjima, evoking nostalgia for the Momoyama world that Hideyoshi loved. To visit Fushimi is to undertake a journey through the breath of those who lived during the most dramatic turning point in Japanese history.
Fushimi Castle and the World of Swords
Fushimi Castle was the stage for Japan's greatest transfer of power—from the Toyotomi to the Tokugawa—and the swords borne by the assembled warlords served as living witnesses to this pivotal moment in history. The great daimyo mobilized for the construction of Fushimi Castle each brought their finest blades, staking their family honor, such that Fushimi in some sense resembled a "judging ground" for Japanese swords. The "Battle of Fushimi Castle," known as the prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara, saw Torii Mototada, a retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu, defend the castle to his death in a glorious final stand. His spirit of loyalty has been transmitted as a model for all samurai. The footprints left by Mototada and his castle garrison on the blood-soaked floorboards are preserved today as "Blood Ceilings" in multiple temples throughout Kyoto, serving as precious testimonies conveying to the present age the gravity of samurai resolve and the cultural weight of the sword. In structures such as the Karamon gate of Nishi-Hongan-ji Temple and Nijō Castle, said to have been relocated from Fushimi Castle's remains, one can glimpse the grandeur of Momoyama culture of old, and come to appreciate how the high level of Japanese craftsmanship and art achieved in Hideyoshi's era resonates with the world of sword fittings.
Connection to Swords
The connection between Fushimi Castle and the Japanese sword originates with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a tenka-nin (ruler of all Japan), and his aesthetic vision coupled with sword culture as a symbol of power. Hideyoshi burned with an obsessive passion for collecting swords, and while he confiscated weapons from commoners through the "Sword Hunt Edict" (Tensho 16/1588), he simultaneously plotted to gather all the finest swords in the realm into his own hands. Hideyoshi's collection included renowned swords from the Bizen Osafune school, Soshu tradition, and Yamato tradition; their quality and quantity were unmatched among Sengoku daimyo. Most notably, the celebrated blade "Hone-bami Tōshirō" (by Awataguchi Yoshimitsu), which Hideyoshi treasured, is said to have been placed at his side even as he lay on his deathbed at Fushimi Castle. It is currently enshrined at Toyokuni Shrine (Kyoto) and continues to be venerated as a spiritual receptacle for the soul of the tenka-nin. When Hideyoshi died at Fushimi Castle in Keicho 3 (1598), the celebrated swords of the realm dispersed among the hands of various daimyo amid succession conflicts. Many of these celebrated swords were brought to the battlefield in the Battle of Sekigahara and, having survived the decisive battle for supremacy, were transmitted to later generations. The swords carried by Torii Mototada and other commanders of the eastern army who fell in the Battle of Fushimi Castle are deeply inscribed in history as proof of loyalty. Tokugawa Ieyasu too is said to have worn the finest sword as a symbol of power when invested as shogun at Fushimi Castle. With the establishment of the Edo shogunate, the sword became institutionally established as a status symbol of the samurai, but its origins lie in the political and symbolic sword culture that Hideyoshi and Ieyasu competed over at Fushimi Castle. Fushimi also has deep connections with the Honami family, who conducted sword appraisal and evaluation, and became a central stage for sword culture from the Momoyama through Edo periods.
Highlights
- Blood Ceilings at Gen'kōan, Yōgen'in, and Kōshōji temples
- Fushimi Inari Taisha (Senbon Torii gates)
- Fushimi sake-brewing district (Gekkeikan Okura Museum)
- Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto (enshrines Hideyoshi, holds Hone-bami Tōshirō)
- Replica castle tower in Fushimi Momoyama Castle Athletic Park
- Chūshojima canal district
* Opening hours and admission fees are subject to change. Please check the official website before visiting.