Kumamoto Castle is located in Kumamoto City on the southernmost Japanese main island of Kyushu, about six hours and a distance of approximately 1300 km (800 miles) from Tokyo, or about 3.5 hours from Osaka (Shin-Osaka Station) by Shinkansen. Kumamoto Castle is one of the three most famous castles that travelers should see when visiting Japan (the other two castles being Himeji and Matsumoto Castles) [1]. A large-scale renovation of the inner castle was completed in Dec 2007, in time for the castle's 400th anniversary [2]. I was fortunate enough to visit the castle in Dec 2009 (and Matsumoto Castle; Himeji Castle had been visited previously) to see the results of the renovation before my most recent visit in Nov 2017.
On 14 April 2016, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck the island of Kyushu, which caused major damage to many places on the island, with Kumamoto Castle having the most visible and significant. Roof tiles fell, foundations were damaged, entire structures collapsed, and the stone walls sustained major damage. Sections of the wall collapsed (as pictured above), leaving some structures perilously close collapsing themselves. The repairs to the castle started two months after the earthquake and has a target completion date of 2036 (yes, an estimated 20 years to repair the damage!) [2]. Whereas previously you could freely walk the grounds of the castle before the earthquake, visitors are now restricted to walking the perimeter of the castle while reconstruction is in progress (for obvious safety reasons). The route is well marked, easily walkable, and there are numerous informative signposts in Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) along the way.
