Hiroshima Castle Audio Guide

Hiroshima Castle: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Hiroshima Castle Park

   Welcome to Hiroshima Castle Park, known in Japanese as 広島城址公園. It sits in the Motomachi district of Hiroshima's Naka Ward, and it is the green setting for one of Japan's more unusual castles. Hiroshima Castle was built on the delta where the Ota River meets the sea. That makes it a flat plains castle, a relatively rare kind, because most Japanese castles crown a hill. As you walk, notice that the park is only a fragment of the original fortress. The historic site you can visit today covers the main enclosure and the second enclosure, wrapped by the inner moat. Together they take up about 120,000 square meters, and part of the third enclosure survives too. At its greatest extent, the castle territory reached out to the outer moat across roughly 900,000 square meters. Over the next few stops, we will follow the castle through its founding, its years as a military headquarters, the morning in 1945 that changed everything, and the way it stands today.

2. 02

   Hiroshima Castle Park: A Castle on the Delta

   The story begins with Mori Terumoto, the lord who ruled most of the Chugoku region. He chose this spot for the same reason a modern planner might: convenient transport by both land and water. Construction began in 1589, and the great keep followed, founded in 1592. Rather than a hilltop, he built on the river delta, where boats and roads could meet. After Mori came Fukushima Masanori, who entered the castle in the early Edo period and expanded it, pushing the castle area out to the outer moat. Later the castle became the home of 12 generations of the Asano family, lords of the Hiroshima domain, one of the largest holdings in western Japan, valued at 426,000 koku of rice. An account written in the middle of the Edo period describes a main keep of five stories paired with a smaller keep of three stories, plus 88 turrets. Imagine that skyline rising from flat river country. The castle also has a nickname connected to carp. One explanation says the moat once held many carp, while another points to the dark color of the keep.

3. 03

   Hiroshima Castle Park: A Headquarters of an Empire at War

   Hiroshima Castle: The keep is a replica completed in 1958, and it is a faithful representation of the original.

   By the late nineteenth century, Hiroshima was a center of Japan's military, and the castle was at its heart. During the Sino-Japanese War, the government moved temporarily to the city. Emperor Meiji kept his headquarters at Hiroshima Castle from September 15, 1894, to April 27, 1895, and the imperial headquarters was set up in the main enclosure. The city's importance showed in diplomacy as well. The first round of talks between Chinese and Japanese representatives to end that war was held in Hiroshima, from February 1 to 4, 1895. The original keep also earned official honor. It was designated a national treasure in 1931. Part of the reason lay in its exterior: the dark lapped wooden boards on the walls and the railing around the top floor. As you look at the castle today, you are seeing a careful imitation of that celebrated profile.

4. 04

   Hiroshima Castle Park: Destruction and Rebuilding

   Hiroshima Castle: From late October 2026 to early March 2027, on days when the castle's sightseeing boats run, you can also see the castle from the water.

   The original keep and the castle buildings survived until 1945. On August 6 of that year, at 8:15 in the morning, the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima, and the keep and the other castle structures collapsed. Hiroshima became the first city in the world to be struck by an atomic bomb. Everything you see standing in the castle today was rebuilt after the war. The keep is a replica completed in 1958, and it is a faithful representation of the original. Its stone foundation rises 12.4 meters, and the keep stands another 26.6 meters above it. Inside, it served as a museum recording the history of the city before the bombing. Outside the main park area, urban development has erased most of the castle's footprint. A few traces remain: the top stones of the moat walls, an earthen embankment from the middle moat on the grounds of the Hiroshima High Court, and the site of an outer turret just south of the eastern end of the Sayabashi bridge. The park also surrounds the grounds of Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine, which was excluded from the park area in 1956.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Hiroshima Castle Park is changing right now, so it is worth knowing what to expect. The keep closed in March 2026 because of concrete deterioration and aging facilities, but you can still admire its exterior. The restored buildings of the second enclosure, the museum shop there, and the third enclosure area remain open to visitors. Looking ahead, a new Sannomaru History Museum is set to open on June 1, 2027, together with a second phase of the third enclosure area. From late October 2026 to early March 2027, on days when the castle's sightseeing boats run, you can also see the castle from the water. Before you leave, walk along the inner moat and try to picture the delta, the rivers and the skyline of towers that once stood here. Then ask yourself which of the traces beyond the park you would like to find next.