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Original Castles in Japan
Original Castles in Japan
Because of bombings in WWII, fires, edicts to tear down castles, etc. only twelve of Japan's castles are considered to be originals, which have donjons that date back to the days when they were still used. Four of them are located on the island of Shikoku, two just north in the Chugoku region, two in Kansai, three in the Chubu region, and one in the northern Tohoku region. There are no original castles in Kyushu, Hokkaido, or Okinawa.
The orginal castles are:
Uwajima Castle
Matsuyama Castle
Kochi Castle
Marugame Castle
Matsue Castle
Bitchu Matsuyama Castle
Himeji Castle
Hikone Castle
Inuyama Castle
Matsumoto Castle
Maruoka Castle
Hirosaki Castle
(Nijo Castle is an original however, it was actually an Imperial residence rather than a castle, so it is not included on the list of originals)
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