Hikone Castle
彦根城
A National Treasure keep above Lake Biwa, with its gate turrets, moats and even the lords' stable still standing around it
About Hikone Castle
Hikone's keep is one of only five castle keeps in Japan listed as National Treasures. It is small, three tiers finished around 1606–07 and thought to have been moved here from Otsu Castle. You reach it by about 140 stone steps, laid unevenly on purpose so that attackers could not rush them. Below the hill, the Ii lords' garden Genkyu-en frames the keep across its pond, and Hikonyan, the city's cat mascot, comes out in front of the keep at 1:30 PM on fine days. In September 2026 a government advisory council recommended the castle as Japan's World Heritage nomination, with inscription targeted for 2028.
Essential Tips
Walking from Hikone Station, enter at the Omotemon: it is the nearest of the three gates, and it has more ticket windows than the Otemon, whose booth gets very busy in cherry blossom season
The keep alone takes just under an hour: about 10 minutes up from the Omotemon, 15-20 minutes inside and 10 minutes back down
The keep stairs climb at 62 and 60 degrees. Shoes go on racks at the door, so bring a bag if you would rather carry yours
Long umbrellas and walking sticks stay outside the keep; folding ones can come in, but a folding stick cannot be used on the stairs
In Golden Week the keep queue starts early in the morning and can stretch back down towards the Omotemon and Otemon: enter by one of those gates, not the Kuromon, and bring plenty of water
The ¥300 gojoin (castle seal) is sold at the Omotemon ticket booth, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM; the 100 Castles stamp is in the free Hikone City Museum of History by the Sawaguchi gate (at the Omotemon booth while the museum is closed, December 25-31)
Look out for the Umaya by the Sawaguchi gate: a shingle-roofed stable with 21 stalls, the only castle stable of its size left in Japan, and free to see
In mid to late March the plum grove, on the site of the castle's old rice stores, has about 400 trees in flower; in 2025 it reached full bloom on March 28
Pets can come into the grounds on a lead but not into the keep or turrets, and drones are banned
Don't Miss
The Keep's Gables and Bell-Shaped Windows
The keep is only three tiers and 20.5 m tall, stone base included, but its roofs crowd together plain gables, hip-and-gable ends and curved kara-hafu, and bell-shaped kato windows run round the second floor as well as the top. No other castle keep has them on two floors. Take it in from the square in front, then go inside and up the two steep flights to the top floor, which looks out over the castle grounds and the town.
Tenbin-yagura and the Corridor Bridge
The paths up from the Omotemon and the Otemon both end below Tenbin-yagura, and you get in across a wooden bridge over a deep dry moat from the Kane-no-maru enclosure. The bridge was built to be dropped in an emergency, leaving attackers who had come that far to scale the turret's high stone walls. Tenbin means a balance: a gate in the middle and a two-storey turret at each end make it symmetrical, a layout found at no other Japanese castle. The bridge once had walls and a roof, so no one outside could see who was crossing.
Genkyu-en Garden
The Ii lords' strolling garden, laid out in 1677 by the fourth lord, Ii Naooki, below the north-east side of the hill. Its pond, four islands and bridges are modelled on the Eight Views of Omi around Lake Biwa. Hoshodai, the pavilion the lords built on a rise above the pond to entertain guests, is now a tea room. Next door is Rakuraku-en, the lords' villa and retirement residence, where Ii Naosuke was born in 1815.
Hikonyan's Daily Appearances
Hikonyan, a white cat in the Ii clan's red helmet, was created for the castle's 400th anniversary festival in 2007 and kept on after it ended. He is modelled on the white cat of a legend from Gotokuji, the temple in Tokyo's Setagaya district: it beckoned Ii Naotaka, the second lord, out from under the tree he was sheltering beneath, just before lightning struck the tree. He appears every day at 1:30 PM in front of the keep and at 3 PM at the Kabuki-mon gate of the Hikone Castle Museum, outside the paid area (both at the museum in bad weather), plus 11 AM at Yonbancho Square at weekends and on holidays.
The Time Bell
Just below the Taikomon gate, on the way up to the keep, the castle bell is still rung five times a day, at 6 AM, 9 AM, noon, 3 PM and 6 PM, as it has been since the Edo period; it first hung in the Kane-no-maru, the bell enclosure, and was moved up here so it would carry over the whole castle. The present bell was cast in 1844 for the twelfth lord, Ii Naoaki, with a large quantity of gold koban coins in the metal to give it a finer tone. It is on Japan's list of 100 Soundscapes, and Chosho-an, the little tea house beside it, serves matcha and a sweet.
What to Do Here
Opening-Hour Keep Climb
Enter at the Omotemon, climb past Tenbin-yagura and the bell to the Taikomon, and do the keep first. Next, walk out to the Nishi-no-maru three-tier turret, which guarded the back of the hill and in peacetime kept watch over Lake Biwa; you can go inside. Leave by the Kuromon path, which comes down beside Genkyu-en.
Tips:
- Free walking sticks are lent at every ticket booth for the climb
- Bring water: there are almost no drink machines inside the grounds
- Tenbin-yagura and the Nishi-no-maru turret have shoe racks too, so slip-on shoes save time all morning
- Pass the bell at 9 AM and you hear it struck a few metres away
- The path on past the Nishi-no-maru turret to the Yamazaki enclosure is closed, because its bridge is worn out
Garden, Palace and Hikonyan Half Day
After the keep, walk down to Genkyu-en and round its pond, then cross to the Hikone Castle Museum at the foot of the hill. It stands on the site of the lords' Omote-goten palace and rebuilds part of it: an Edo-period Noh stage, the lord's living rooms, a tea room and a garden sit alongside galleries drawn from the Ii family's collection of about 45,000 objects, from the clan's red-lacquered armour to tea bowls. Finish at the museum's Kabuki-mon gate for Hikonyan at 3 PM.
Tips:
- The ¥1,500 set ticket covers the castle, Genkyu-en and the museum; bought separately they cost ¥1,700
- Displays change every month or two to protect the objects, so check the museum's exhibition page if you want something specific, such as the National Treasure Hikone Screen
- On hot summer days Hikonyan's appearances are cut to 10 or 20 minutes
Castle Town Walk and Lunch
Walk in from the station along Ekimae Oshiro-dori to the middle moat and follow the Iroha-matsu pines to the Sawaguchi gate. Just outside the gate, on the moat, is Umoreginoya, the house where Ii Naosuke lived from the age of 17 to 32, long before he became the shogunate's chief minister. Through the gate, the Hikone City Museum of History and the Umaya stable line the way to the Omotemon. After the castle, leave by the Omotemon and cross the Kyobashi bridge to Yume Kyobashi Castle Road, redone in the style of an Edo castle town with white walls and black lattices, and lined with sweet shops, cafes and restaurants.
Tips:
- Umoreginoya is ¥300 and closed on Mondays and from December 20 to the end of February
- There were once 47 Iroha-matsu, hence the name (the iroha poem uses all 47 kana); 34 stand today. They are Tosa pines, picked because their roots stay below ground and keep out of the road
- Most shops on Yume Kyobashi Castle Road open around 10 AM to 5 PM, and many close on Tuesdays
Autumn Night Opening
On autumn Saturdays the castle reopens after dark with the keep lit up, and there is more room than by day. Genkyu-en has evening openings of its own: moon-viewing nights at weekends and on holidays until October 4, and an autumn-colour light-up from November 14 to 29, 2026.
Tips:
- The night opening is ¥1,000 and your daytime ticket is not valid; book online or buy at the gate from 6 PM
- Genkyu-en's evenings run 6:00 – 9:00 PM (last entry 8:30 PM) and cost ¥900 at the gate or ¥700 in advance
- A ¥1,400 ticket for both is sold from 6 to 7 PM at either entrance on September 26, October 3 and November 14, 21, 22 and 28
- Both are cancelled in bad weather
Plan Your Visit
Opening Hours
castle
8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (last entry 4:30 PM); the keep and turrets shut their doors at 4:45 PM
closed Days
Open every day of the year
museum
Hikone Castle Museum: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM from October 1, 2026 (to 4:30 PM from December to February), last entry 30 minutes before closing. Closed October 20-22, November 17-18, December 8-9, December 17 and December 25-31, 2026.
night Opening
Autumn night opening, 6:00 – 8:00 PM (last entry 7:30 PM) every Saturday until December 5, 2026, plus October 11 and November 22: separate ticket (¥1,000, children ¥300), bookable online, cancelled in bad weather
Best Time to Visit
A weekday morning, from the 8:30 AM opening. Cherry blossoms peak in early to mid April: full bloom came on April 6 in 2026 and April 9 in 2025. In autumn, the Saturday night openings are quieter than the daytime castle.
Avoid:
Golden Week and the September Silver Week holidays, when the castle warns of long waits for the keep, and cherry blossom weekends in early April
Nearby
Hikone Castle Museum
Beside the Omotemon gate: part of the lords' palace rebuilt, with the Ii family treasures; ¥700, or ¥1,500 with the castle.
100 m
Umoreginoya
Ii Naosuke's house from 17 to 32, on the middle moat by the Sawaguchi gate, owned by the Okubo family since 1871.
350 m
Yume Kyobashi Castle Road
Edo-style street of white walls and black lattices starting at the Kyobashi bridge, the usual lunch stop.
450 m
Yonbancho Square
Hikone's old market street, redone with gas lamps in Taisho-era style at the far end of Yume Kyobashi Castle Road.
850 m
Gallery
The postcard view is from the Musashino corner of the garden: pond in front, the Hoshodai tea house in the middle, the keep above
From the dry moat, the base shows two builds: the original stonework on the right, re-laid late in the Edo period on the left
The keep was re-roofed in 1996 with about 60,000 tiles of 34 kinds, in the fifth major repair since the castle was built
The castle had no cherry trees until 1934, when a town councillor had 1,000 Somei-yoshino planted; about 1,100 grow here today
History
founding
After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave north-east Omi to Ii Naomasa, one of his four great generals, who moved into the defeated Ishida Mitsunari's castle at Sawayama. Naomasa died in 1602, and work on a new castle on Hikone-yama began in 1604 under his son Naotsugu. The keep was up in under two years. Stone and timber came from the castles of Sawayama, Azuchi, Nagahama and Otsu, and the whole castle was finished in 1622 under Naotsugu's younger brother, Naotaka.
significance
The Ii were the foremost of the Tokugawa's hereditary vassal lords and ruled from Hikone for the whole Edo period. The best known of them, Ii Naosuke, was born in the castle's Rakuraku-en villa in 1815 and became Tairo, the shogunate's chief minister, in 1858. That summer, with his consent, the shogunate's negotiators signed the commercial treaty with the United States without the emperor's approval, and in 1860 he was assassinated outside Edo Castle's Sakurada Gate. The keep became a National Treasure in 1952 and the castle grounds a Special Historic Site in 1956. The castle has been on Japan's tentative World Heritage list since 1992. Passed over in 2025, it was recommended in September 2026 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs' advisory council as Japan's nomination; the government is due to confirm it in 2027, and the city is aiming for inscription in 2028.
reconstruction
Hikone's keep has never been rebuilt. In October 1878, with the castle due to be sold off and pulled down, Emperor Meiji passed through Hikone and ordered it preserved. An air raid on the town in July 1945 left the castle untouched, and a night raid planned for August 15 was never flown because Japan surrendered that day. The keep was taken apart and reassembled in 1957-60, and the builders found timbers from an older keep reused in its frame, which is why it is thought to have come from Otsu Castle.
name Origin
The castle's other name is Konki-jo, Golden Turtle Castle. Tradition says that before the castle was built, a temple on Hikone-yama kept a statue of Kannon riding a golden turtle; the hill was also called Konki-yama, the site of the temple is marked inside the castle as Kannon-dai, and the castle's address is still Konki-cho.
Getting There
JR Biwako Line from Kyoto
Station: Kyoto Station to Hikone Station
Exit: West exit, then straight down Ekimae Oshiro-dori
Walk: About 15 minutes to the Omotemon gate
Special rapid trains take about 50 minutes, with no seat reservations. Take one bound for Maibara or beyond: those also run direct from Osaka (about 80 minutes, ¥1,980), while others stop short of Hikone.
Tokaido Shinkansen via Maibara
Station: Maibara Station, then the JR Biwako Line one stop to Hikone
Exit: West exit at Hikone Station
Walk: About 15 minutes from Hikone Station
Hikari trains reach Maibara in about 2 hours 15 minutes from Tokyo, and Hikari or Kodama take about 30 minutes from Nagoya; Nozomi do not stop there. The ride on to Hikone takes 5 minutes. From Kyoto the Shinkansen saves only a few minutes over the direct special rapid and costs ¥2,350, twice the fare.
By Car
Station: Hikone IC (Meishin Expressway)
Walk: A few minutes from the tourist car parks around the moats
About 10 minutes from the interchange into town on Route 306. In cherry blossom season the roads around the castle are restricted, and the castle asks visitors to come by train.
Location
1-1 Konki-cho, Hikone, Shiga 522-0061
Nearest: Hikone Station (JR Biwako Line) (About 15 minutes along Ekimae Oshiro-dori to the Omotemon gate, then about 10 minutes uphill to the keep)
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