The five-story keep which incorporated the castle style of the Azuchi-Momoyama Era
Shimabara Castle was built over 7 years starting from 1618 by Shigemasa Matsukura. There was once a small hill known as Moritake on the grounds so that the castle was alternately known as Moritake Castle. In the following 250 years, it had been used by 4 lords and 19 generations, but in 1874, the castle was abandoned and then demolished. However in the 1960s, there was an initiative by local residents to restore Shimabara Castle after which a five-story and five-layered freestanding keep without gables, a turret and a long wall were reconstructed to become a park for what remained of the castle. The stone walls from the castle’s original days remained as they were and the honmaru inner citadel is surrounded by a water moat. Right by the entrance to the keep, tourist guides dressed as armored warriors, ninja, town residents and even Shiro Amakusa who was the leader of the Shimabara Rebellion bring out the mood of the times. Also, you can try on clothing and armor to transform into ninja and samurai without any rental fee so that you can get that photograph of yourself in warrior garb.
Plenty of information to learn about the history of Shimabara
The interior of the keep is a museum: the 1st floor has Christian historical materials, the 2nd floor has local documents and treasures, the 3rd floor has information on folklore, and the 5th floor is an observation deck. There is not a single tall building around the castle so that you can get that ideal view of the city, Mt. Unzen and the ocean. Also on the grounds, there are a variety of displays through museums such as Seibo Memorial Hall (southeast turret) dedicated to the Shimabara-born sculptor Seibo Kitamura, the Folk Art Museum (northeast turret) and the Tourism Recovery Hall which introduces the Mt. Unzen volcanic disaster through video and documents. Especially at the Christian Museum, information on the eras of Japanese trade with Spain & Portugal, religious missions, banned religion and oppression, and the Shimabara Rebellion is on display so that you can find out about the history of Shimabara in great detail.