Saga Prefecture

Karatsu Castle, also known as the Dancing Crane Castle, is a hilltop style Japanese Castle located on the coastline of Karatsu Bay at the mouth of the Matsuura River in Karatsu Saga Prefecture. Karatsu Castle is located on a raised rock platform and effectively surrounded by water on three sides, plus it has moat through most of the land bridge leading to castle. Karatsu Castle is one of the few castles that has stone walls rising from the water. The inner bailey is located on summit of Mt Manto. Today a modern reconstruction of a donjon (tower) exists, however while stone foundations for a donjon do exist, it is not certain that one was ever completed. Terasawa Hirotaka ordered the construction of Karatsu Castle in 1602 and it was completed around 1608 using some materials from Hizen Nagoya Castle (Saga Prefecture), which was his former castle. Karatsu Castle was demolished in 1872 as a part of the Meiji Restoration. In addition to the reconstructed donjon, several turrets have also been reconstructed. |