Okazaki Castle
岡崎城
Birthplace of Tokugawa Ieyasu, with a reconstructed keep and a Ieyasu museum telling his life story. Hatcho miso breweries in the castle town are open to visitors.
Okazaki Castle is where Tokugawa Ieyasu was born in 1542. In the Edo period it was revered as the 'castle of the divine founder's birth.' The present keep was rebuilt in 1959 and holds exhibits on the castle and Ieyasu's life. Its top floor offers views over the Yahagi River and the city of Okazaki. The surrounding Okazaki Park is one of Japan's 100 Famous Cherry Blossom Spots. It includes the Mikawa Bushi no Yakata samurai hall, the Ieyasu Museum and the Ubuyu well, where Ieyasu was bathed as a newborn. Keep admission is about 300 yen. About 1 kilometer west of the castle, the Hatcho miso district has two Edo-era makers, Kakukyu and Maruya, where you can see the wooden-barrel fermentation storehouses and taste the miso. It's about a 15-minute walk from Higashi-Okazaki Station on the Meitetsu line, or about 30 minutes from Nagoya.
Opening hours
09:00–17:00
Nearby sights
- Arimatsu Historic Townscape
- Ghibli Park
- Korankei Gorge
- Toyota Automobile Museum
- Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
- Kakuozan Nittai-ji Temple
- Atsuta Jingu
- Shirotori Garden