Chiba Castle
Cost
free
Attractions > Other Cities and Areas > Japanese Castles > Chiba
About | Access | Hotels & Lodging | Hours & Fees
Chiba Castle HDR by Kabacchi (CC BY 2.0)
About
Chiba Castle (in Japanese; Chiba Jyou 千葉城) or Chiba City Folk Museum (website in Japanese only but they do have an English PDF file link you can view) is NOT the actual castle that stood on this site. The original castle stood slightly east of this structure and was considered to be more of a large Fort than a castle. The current structure was mainly built for tourism and to act as a "museum". The pseudo castle can be enjoyed, it is very pretty, there is a very nice museum there and they have interesting activities but please understand that this is a modern museum in the shape of a Japanese style castle. The museum is pretty small, there is small park around the castle (which does have nice Cherry Blossoms during the season) and one or two little restaurants which serve traditional type Japanese meals. The pseudo Chiba Castle is in Chiba City which is in Chiba Prefecture. You can get to this attraction by a limited express JR train and monorail from Tokyo in under and hour.
In the 1100's a warloard by the name of Chiba Tsuneshige built a large fortification close to where the museum is now. The Chiba Clan ruled the area using the Fortress as their base for hundreds of years until the mid 1400's. There was a family fued and a relative named Makuhari Yasutani attacked the castle and took it from the Chiba Clan. Makuhari became the ruling warlord of the region, took the name Chiba as his own and built a new castle in nearby city of Sakura called Motosakura Castle (or Sakura Castle). It is assumed the Chiba Fortress was destroyed during and after the battle and was left abandoned. The original fort has almost completely disappeared and historians are still not exactly sure where or exactly what type of fortress stood on the grounds.
Please visit our Japanese Castles page to find more castles that are close to Tokyo.
Data
Name: Inohana Castle 亥鼻城 (or Chiba Castle) 千葉城
Original Year Built: 1126
Type: Flatland up high (on hill) 平山城
Class: Fort (original structure was considered to be more of a "Fort" than a castle)
Condition: Mockup
Founder: Chiba Tsuneshige (Daimyo)
Timeline
1126 - The Chiba Clan moved it's headquarters from Oji Castle to Chiba "Castle" which:
- There wasn't really a called Chiba Castle it was called Inohana Castle [ Wikipedia in Japanese - Inohana Jyou 亥鼻城 ] ruled by the Chiba Clan.
- There wasn't really a castle built like we vision a Japanese castle to be, but rather more of a "Fort".
1455 - the castle was abandoned after Makuhari Yasutani, a relative of the Chiba Clan, defeated Chiba Tsunenao
1967 - The Chiba City Folk Museum Mockup Castle was built near the original Inohana Castle location in the "Shape" of a castle, based on Odawara Castle (Gokoku Jinjya was originally in this location and was moved). !! Note !! The Chiba City Folk Museum is a total fabrication (like a Disneyland building) and does not represent the original castle. The construction was very misleading and caused confusion even among the Japanese.
References
(in Japanese) 千葉の歴史 千葉城ってあったの？ (Was there really a Chiba Castle?)
Access
Closest Train Station: Kencho-Mae
1-6-1 Inohana
Chūō-ku, Chiba 260-0856 Japan
Tel: 043-222-8231
Walk: a 15 min. walk from the JR Uchibo Line Hon Chiba Station
Walk: a 13 min. walk from the Chiba Urban Monorail at Ken Chou Mae Station
Bus: from Chiba Station go to bus stop #7 and get on the Keisei bus 03, 03-1 or 04
Hotels & Lodging
Recommended
View a full list of Hotels and Lodging in or nearby Chiba Castle.
Hours & Fees
Hours: The grounds are open 24/7. The museum is open 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. entry until 4:30 p.m.
Closed: Mondays and Japanese Holidays, some irregular days
Cost: Grounds are Free, 50 yen to enter into the museum
Information presented is based on the time it was created. There may be changes since publication. Please confirm information by visiting the Official Website before visiting.
Resources
Website: Chiba Castle Homepage
