A valuable image of Nagoya Castle because it shows what the castle looked like during the Meiji Period (1868-1912), before many buildings were destroyed or torn down.
You can see the donjon at the honmaru (inner citadel) and a small tower. The buildings in the foreground form part of the honmaru palace. The structures on the ends of the roof are golden shachihoko (金鯱), a mythical animal with a dolphin body and a lion head that protects the building from fire.
The original Nagoya castle was built around 1525 by Imagawa Ujichika (1473–1526), but later abandoned. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) ordered the building of a new Nagoya Castle in 1610, it was completed in 1619.
A massive castle at an important strategic location, it guarded the west of Japan. Nagoya was one of the most important castle towns in Japan and the most important stop on the Tokaido, the main road between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto.
Until 1868 (Meiji 1), the castle was the home of the Owari clan of the Tokugawa family. After that, the Imperial Japanese Army used the castle until 1895 (Meiji 28). Imperial soldiers, no fans of the previous shogun, damaged many of the castle’s treasures.
The Mino-Owari Earthquake, otherwise known as the Nobi Earthquake, of 1891 (Meiji 24) also caused a lot of damage.
From 1895, the castle became a detached palace for the Imperial Family. It was handed over to the city of Nagoya in 1930 (Showa 5).
Although it managed to survive for more than 300 years, it was burned down and destroyed during a WWII US air raid on May 14, 1945 (Showa 20). Between 1957 (Showa 32) and 1959 (Showa 34), a ferroconcrete reproduction was built, complete with elevator and modern conveniences.
The current reproduction shachihoko are made of copper and covered with 560 scales of 18 carat gold.
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Old Photos of Japan aims to be your personal museum for Japan's visual heritage and to bring the experiences of everyday life in old Japan to you.
To enhance our understanding of Japanese culture and society I track down, acquire, archive, and research images of everyday life, and give them context.
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Kjeld Duits
Reference for Citations
Duits, Kjeld (). Nagoya 1880s: Nagoya Castle, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on March 18, 2025 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/821/nagoya-castle
Ilshat Khusnutdinov
There is a very similar black-and-white photograph on the website of the Kunstkamera Museum in St. Petersburg. But there are minor differences: the doors in the lower right house are closed, the windows in the two-story pagoda on the left are closed, and there are three trees on the terrace under the main castle.
I wonder if the author of the photo is the same?
(https://collection.kunstkamera.ru/entity/OBJECT/31995?page=5&sort=100&fund=44&index=229)
#000838 ·
Kjeld Duits (Author)
@Ilshat Khusnutdinov: Great find! It could be that the two photos were both taken by Tamamura.
I have three images of the castle that were roughly taken from the same angle, and they all differ from the Kunstkamera Museum print. Here are the other two: 80303-0097-PP | 160302-0038.
Possibly this was just a popular, or convenient, spot to shoot the castle.
#000839 ·
Noel
@Kjeld Dutis: As far as I can tell your “16302-0038” is exactly the same as the one from the Kunstkamera Museum, just heavily cropped in comparison to the original. The style of caption would suggest Kajima Seibei, but it would need futher verification. There are two major differences between the photo from the article and the one from the museum website. Firstly, look at the roof of the dark building just in front of the Honmaru (slightly to the left) – in the Tamamura’s version it has a “double roof” (I have no idea how it’s called), while in the other photo the roof is simple and identical the whole lenght. Secondly, focus on the roof of the building in the foreground, the one set diagonaly. In the Tamamura’s version it hardly reaches the other white building, but in the other photo it almost touches it. In the time between those photos the building was extended, and you can also tell that by the difference in color of the roof tiles – the old part has darker tiles, probably covered in moss, and the new part has clean, bright tiles. I’m no expert in the castle history but there were quite significant renovations made in the time those two photographs were taken.
#000850 ·
Kjeld Duits (Author)
@Noel: Thanks, Noel. I agree with 16302-0038 being a heavily cropped variant of the image in the collection of the Kunstkamera Museum. As you know, when photographers borrowed from each other they often cropped out the caption.
The Kajima Seibei attribution is a fascinating observation. It has been a long time since I attributed 16302-0038 to Tamamura and my old brain can’t recall why I did so. I don’t seem to have made any notes about it.
Interestingly, Terry Bennett attributes an image numbered 556 to Kajima. The Kunstkamera Museum’s image is numbered 565 … 70602-0001, attributed to Tamamura, is numbered 555, but the number appears to have been pasted over a previous one!
Keep me posted if you find further verification.
#000854 ·
Noel
I assume the “556” photo must be this one. The caption is the same style as in “565”. You can see the trees growing on the mount between the Honmaru and the white building, so they must’ve been taken in the same timeframe. In the Tamamura’s version the trees are absent.
Tamamura’s caption does seem to be plastered over another one, but I have no idea what it could have been. The only other copies I’ve seen had no caption at all.
#000855 ·
Kjeld Duits (Author)
@Noel: Great find, Noel! That caption is indeed in the same style as in 565. Thanks for sharing.
Incidentally, the main keep of Nagoya Castle was destroyed during WWII and rebuilt in concrete and steel. Some time over the next few years it will be restored to its original wooden form. Several years ago, one of the engineers involved visited me to study my photos of the castle, because I apparently have a photo taken from a rare angle.
#000856 ·
Noel
@Kjeld Dutis: That’s an interesting story :) One would think that Japanese archives should be full of drawings, paintings and photos of such a popular building and yet they needed to search for reference in a foreign country. Now I wonder which angle are we talking about and if I’ve seen it before.
#000857 ·
Kjeld Duits (Author)
@Noel: I checked my administration and the engineer apparently found three rare angles. They used 140916-0168-PP, 190101-0007-PP and 190101-0006-PP for their study. This was in early 2019.
Nagoya Castle is actually one of the best documented castles in Japan, but there are always blind spots.
They didn’t need to search for references abroad. I have lived and worked in Japan since 1982, and live in the center of Tokyo.
#000860 ·
Noel
@Kjeld Dutis: Thank you for the reference photos, they are indeed “less popular” angles. I must say, after seeing them, the “L12 Nagoya Castle (C )” by Adolfo Farsari also has an unusual perspective.
It turns out that 140916-0168-PP and 190101-0006-PP were part of my digital archive since 2011, but the 190101-0007-PP was quite new to me. I could swear I’ve seen it somewhere before and so I did a little search and it popped up in Syracuse University Art Museum collection. What’s funny is that 140916-0168-PP can be found in Nagasaki Database, but it’s so heavily cropped that not only the Stillfried’s caption (and attribution), but the whole lower part of the photo is missing. Tokyo Photographic Art Museum also has a copy, but they didn’t recognize it as Nagoya Castle and simply captioned it as 城.
Lastly, I don’t know why, but I was somehow convinced you work from the U.S.. Sorry about that. :)
#000861 ·
Kjeld Duits (Author)
@Noel: Thanks for going on a search and sharing your results. Fascinating finds.
I take your assumption that I work from the U.S. as a compliment for my English ^_-
In what city are you located, Noel, if I may ask?
#000862 ·
Noel
@Kjeld Duits: Well, I’m not from the U.S. either, so the name of the city might not tell you much, but anyway greetings from Poland in Central Europe. :)
#000863 ·