* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Mito Castle
水戸城
Mito Castle is a historic castle in Kantō dating from the Founded in the early Kamakura period (1190s); major development from 1617 (Genna 3), whose lord was Edo clan / Satake Yoshinobu / Mito Tokugawa clan.
Overview
About the Castle
Mito Castle is a hirajiro castle with stepped fortifications (kajō-shiki hirajiro) built on a plateau between the Naka and Sakura rivers in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. According to tradition, it was built by the Baba clan in the early Kamakura period. During the Muromachi period, the Edo clan (Mito Edo clan) became lords of the castle, and they remained active as a powerful clan in Hitachi Province throughout the Sengoku period. In Keichō 8 (1603), Tokugawa Yorinobu, the tenth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was granted the 200,000-koku domain of Mito (though Yorinobu himself did not enter the castle but was raised under Ieyasu). Later, Tokugawa Yorifusa (Ieyasu's eleventh son) became the first Mito domain lord. The Mito domain subsequently continued as one of the three senior Tokugawa branch families (gosanke) for 260 years.
The Mito Tokugawa House and Mito Studies
The Mito domain was a center for historical research, known for its compilation of the Dai Nihon-shi. As the birthplace of Mito Studies (Mito-gaku)—a school of thought emphasizing imperial reverence and opposition to foreign influence—it exerted incalculable influence on late-Tokugawa Japan. The second domain lord, Tokugawa Mitsukuni (revered as "Komon"), initiated the Dai Nihon-shi compilation project and devoted himself to collecting historical materials from throughout the country and training historians. The ninth domain lord, Tokugawa Nariaki, as the synthesizer of Mito Studies, advocated imperial reverence, the exclusion of foreigners, and the enrichment and strengthening of the nation, thereby exerting great influence on late-Tokugawa politics. His son later became the fifteenth shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu.
Kairaku-en and Mito's Culture
Kairaku-en, developed by the ninth lord Nariaki, is counted as one of Japan's three most famous gardens, alongside Kanazawa's Kenroku-en and Okayama's Kōraku-en. It is renowned as a premier location for plum blossoms; from late February through March, during the plum blossom festival, 100 varieties and 3,000 plum trees bloom in splendor, attracting visitors from throughout the country. After the Meiji Restoration, Mito Castle was abandoned, with only the Kōdōkan (the domain school) and Kairaku-en remaining at the site. However, in recent years the corner tower of the inner citadel, the main gate of the second citadel, and other structures have been rebuilt in wood, and Mito Castle's former appearance is gradually being restored.
The Spirit of the Kōdōkan
The Kōdōkan is a domain school established by Tokugawa Nariaki in Tenpō 12 (1841) that comprehensively taught Confucianism, medicine, astronomy, and martial arts—one of Japan's largest domain schools. The Kōdōkan's spirit, "Bunbu fukaki" (the literary and martial arts are not separated), embodies the ideal of samurai bearing swords while simultaneously cultivating scholarship, and it forms the foundation of Mito's warrior culture.
Connection to Swords
The Mito Tokugawa clan holds one of the most important positions in sword history. The reasons are multiple, but most notably is the existence of the celebrated blade "Shokudaikiri Mitsutada." This sword was originally the beloved blade of Date Masamune but subsequently became the possession of the Tokugawa house, eventually being held by the Mito Tokugawa clan. It was long believed to have been destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake, but was rediscovered in 2015 in a burned state within the storehouses of the Mito Tokugawa clan (now housed at the Tokugawa Museum) and is currently preserved and displayed at the Tokugawa Museum in Mito City. Shokudaikiri Mitsutada is a masterwork by Mitsutada of Bizen Osafune from the mid-Kamakura period, and its rediscovery had a profound impact on the world of blades. Throughout successive generations, the Mito Tokugawa clan devoted themselves to the collection of celebrated blades, forming a collection of the highest caliber alongside the Shogun house, Owari house, and Kishu house. In particular, the second lord Mitsukuni conducted surveys of celebrated blades in parallel with his collection of historical materials for the "Dai Nihon Shi" (History of Great Japan), recording the signatures and provenance of swords throughout the realm. The ninth lord Nariaki placed "martial arts" (bu) at the foundation of domain governance, making swordsmanship, spearmanship, and gunnery the core of practical samurai education at the Kodōkan Academy. Nariaki himself was known as an expert swordsman and is said to have engaged in constant practice with domain samurai in the Kodōkan training hall. In the Bakumatsu period, when the Mito domain's men of purpose acted under the banner of "respect the emperor, expel the barbarians," the blades they wielded became symbolic embodiments of the spirit of Mito thought. In the Sakuradamon assassination of 1860, seventeen Mito ronin assassinated the Great Elder Ii Naosuke, an event forever remembered as a historical occurrence demonstrating the role of the blade in the political turmoil of the late Edo period. A portion of the swords collected by the Mito Tokugawa clan are currently preserved at the Ibaraki Prefectural History Museum, the Kodōkan Academy, and the Tokugawa Museum, conveying to the present day the highest level of sword culture gathered as one of the gosanke.
Highlights
- Reconstructed corner turret and main gate — recent wooden reconstructions of Mito Castle
- Kodōkan Academy (Special National Historic Site / Important Cultural Property) — Japan's greatest domain school
- Kairaku-en Garden (one of Japan's Three Famous Gardens) — plum blossom festival in February
- Tokugawa Museum — Mito Tokugawa family swords, armor, and furnishings
- Ibaraki Prefectural History Museum — Shokudaikiri Mitsutada-related exhibits and Mito domain history
- Sakuradamon historical sites — tracing the Bakumatsu political assassinations linked to Mito ronin
* Opening hours and admission fees are subject to change. Please check the official website before visiting.