Hara Castle

Lore & Background

Hara Castle, a Sengoku period fortress and cemetery, sits in the Minami-Arima area of Minamishimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture. Its ruins became a National Historic Site of Japan in 1938. The castle was first constructed in 1496 by Arima Takazumi on a hill extending into the Ariake Sea, serving as a secondary fortification to Hinoe Castle. Toward the end of the 1500s, Arima Harunobu, after learning about castle design during Japan’s invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598, rebuilt Hara Castle as his primary residence.

Jesuit records show that the main citadel, featuring stone walls, was erected between 1599 and 1604. This renovation gave the castle an Azuchi-Momoyama style, complete with a tiled roof and multiple enclosures: the main, second, third, Amakusa, and outward citadels. The stone walls, a square moat, and the base of the tenshu tower still visible today date from this period. In 1616, the Arima clan was moved to Nobeoka Domain in Hyuga Province, and Matsukura Shigemasa took over Hinoe Castle.

Influenced by the shogunate, he abandoned the poorly situated Hinoe Castle and built Shimabara Castle instead. Hara Castle was also left behind at this time. While some of its stone walls were taken and a few structures moved for Shimabara’s construction, many stone walls and buildings, including a large main gate and several yagura turrets, remained. This allowed rebels during the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637 to 1638 to successfully hold out in the abandoned castle for months against Tokugawa forces.

After the rebellion, the shogunate tore down the remaining stone walls and structures. Archaeological digs have uncovered the remains of rebels killed in battle or executed, along with lead bullets, rosaries, and crucifixes. A 2000 excavation revealed the foundations of one of Japan’s largest castle gates, nearly square at 90 by 80 meters east to west. The base of what is thought to be Amakusa Shiro’s residence was also found.

On the Ariake Sea side, an escape route exists; it was examined by local historians after collapsing during heavy rain in 1963, though whether it was built when the castle was first constructed or dug during the rebellion remains unclear. On April 6, 2017, Hara Castle’s ruins were chosen as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles. On June 30, 2018, the site, along with eleven others linked to Catholic persecution in Japan, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The castle site lies about 28 kilometers southwest of Shimabarakō Station on the Shimabara Railway Line.