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Hirosaki
Hirosaki is a castle town on the Tsugaru plain of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of northern Honshu, built around a castle of 1611 whose original keep still stands beneath Mount Iwaki.
- Prefecture
- Aomori
- Region
- Tohoku
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
A castle keep among the cherry trees, and the apple orchards running to the mountain.
Hirosaki was the seat of the Tsugaru clan, lords of western Aomori for more than two and a half centuries. Tsugaru Tamenobu planned the castle and his son Nobuhira completed it in 1611; its five-storey keep was struck by lightning and burned in 1627, and the three-storey keep that stands today was built in 1810. It is one of only twelve original castle keeps in Japan and the only one in Tohoku, and much of the castle around it survives: moats, stone walls, five gates and three turrets.
Around the castle grew a town of samurai, merchants and temples, and the Meiji era added to it. Missionaries and teachers came north, and Hirosaki built schools, churches and banks in the Western style, many of which still stand. In the twentieth century the architect Kunio Maekawa, who had trained with Le Corbusier in Paris, built his first work here and eight buildings in all, so that a walk across the town passes from the Edo period to modern Japanese architecture in a few streets.
Hirosaki is also the capital of Japanese apples. The Tsugaru plain grows more apples than any other part of the country, and the orchards run from the edge of the town to the foot of Mount Iwaki, the volcano of 1,625 metres called the Fuji of Tsugaru. The culture of the town is of the north: Tsugaru shamisen, played fast and hard, Tsugaru-nuri lacquer, kogin embroidery, and the great illuminated fan-shaped floats of the Neputa festival.
see and do
What to see in Hirosaki
Hirosaki Castle
The keep of 1810, three storeys of white plaster and dark roofs above the moat, with the castle's original gates and turrets around it. In 2015 the whole keep, some four hundred tonnes, was lifted and moved on rails about seventy metres so that the stone wall beneath it could be rebuilt.
Hirosaki Park
The castle grounds, some forty-nine hectares of moats, walls and lawns planted with around 2,600 cherry trees, among them the oldest Somei Yoshino in Japan, planted in 1882.
Fujita Memorial Garden
A garden of the Taisho era beside the castle, made for a businessman of the town: its upper level borrows Mount Iwaki for its view, and its lower level is a stream garden, with a Western-style house of the same period.
Zenrin-gai and Chosho-ji
A street of thirty-three Zen temples set out by the Tsugaru lords on the southern approach to the town, ending at Chosho-ji, the family temple of the clan, whose great two-storey gate was raised in 1629.
The Saisho-in pagoda
A five-storey pagoda completed in 1667 in memory of those who died in the wars that brought Tsugaru under the clan, standing among the temples of the south of the town.
The Meiji buildings
The Former Hirosaki City Library of 1906, with its twin octagonal towers, and the Former Aomori Bank of 1904 stand near the castle; the Catholic church of 1910 keeps a Gothic altar of oak brought from a church in Amsterdam.
The buildings of Kunio Maekawa
The City Hall, the Civic Hall and the City Museum are among eight buildings by Maekawa in Hirosaki, concrete and brick set into the old town with great care.
Hirosaki Museum of Contemporary Art
A brick warehouse of the early twentieth century, once used for making cider, converted by the architect Tsuyoshi Tane and opened in 2020, its roof of titanium tiles the colour of cider.
Neputa Mura
A hall by the castle where the great fan-shaped floats of the Neputa festival are kept lit, Tsugaru shamisen is played, and the crafts of the region are made.
Mount Iwaki and the orchards
The orchards spread across the plain to the foot of Mount Iwaki, and a road winds up the mountain to its eighth station, with views over the Tsugaru plain to the Sea of Japan.
Shirakami-Sanchi
About an hour to the south west, one of the largest tracts of untouched beech forest in East Asia, inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1993, with level paths among the beeches near Anmon Falls.
experiences
The best of Hirosaki
Tsugaru shamisen at close quarters
An evening performance of Tsugaru shamisen, the instrument struck rather than plucked, fast, percussive and quite unlike the music of Kyoto.
Lacquer in the making
A visit to a Tsugaru-nuri workshop, where the lacquer is laid down in coat after coat, dozens of them, and polished back to reveal its mottled pattern, a process of months for a single piece.
The orchards
A drive through the apple country below Mount Iwaki, with a grower's orchard and a tasting of the many apples of Tsugaru and of its cider.
Four centuries on foot
A walk with a guide from the castle to the Meiji churches and banks and the buildings of Kunio Maekawa, four centuries of Japanese building in an afternoon.
plan your visit
Hirosaki on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- A full day is enough for the castle, the temples and the Meiji buildings, and a night lets the town join Lake Towada, Oirase or the beech forests of Shirakami-Sanchi.
- Getting there
- By the Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori in a little over three hours, then about forty minutes by train or car to Hirosaki. Aomori Airport is about an hour away by car, and Lake Towada about an hour and a half.
- Pairs well with
- Hirosaki pairs with Oirase and Lake Towada to the east and with Aomori city on its bay, and Hakodate is an easy step north by Shinkansen beneath the Tsugaru Strait.Oirase and TowadaAomoriHakodateKakunodateNyuto Onsen
journeys
Hirosaki on a private journey
We bring guests to Hirosaki on the Custom Tour of Japan, created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director.
questions
Hirosaki: questions answered
Is Hirosaki Castle original?
Yes. Its keep, built in 1810, is one of the twelve original castle keeps in Japan and the only one in Tohoku, and the gates and turrets around it are also original.
Why was Hirosaki Castle moved?
To rebuild the stone wall beneath it. In 2015 the keep was lifted and moved on rails about seventy metres into the castle grounds while the wall was repaired, a project of many years.
How many cherry trees are in Hirosaki Park?
About 2,600, of some fifty varieties, including the oldest Somei Yoshino cherry in Japan, planted in 1882.
How do you get from Tokyo to Hirosaki?
By the Tohoku Shinkansen to Shin-Aomori, a little over three hours, then about forty minutes by train or car. On our journeys a private car meets you at the station.
What is Hirosaki known for?
Its castle, one of the twelve with an original keep, its park of cherry trees, and its apples: the Tsugaru plain around the town grows more apples than any other part of Japan.
Is Hirosaki worth a day trip from Aomori?
Yes. It is about forty-five minutes from Aomori by train, and the castle, the temple street and the Meiji buildings fill a full day.
Can Hirosaki be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Hirosaki included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Hirosaki, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Hirosaki, and we will answer with a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone, or, if you would rather travel independently, an Expert Japan Itinerary that plans every day for you.