History

Saga Prefecture has enjoyed many exchanges with its Asian cousins since ancient times, and therefore, offers a variety of places of interest where visitors can be inspired by a wealth of history. These places include Yoshinogari Historical Park, a national park themed on the ruins of the Yayoi period, and the Saga Castle History Museum, a reconstruction of the main enclosure of Saga Castle that burnt down in the Edo period.

[A] Yoshinogari Historical Park (Kanzaki City Kanzaki Town - Yoshinogari Town)

The Yoshinogari Site is the largest ditch-surrounded settlement of the Yayoi period in Japan, stretching over Kanzaki City and Yoshinogari Town. The huge Yoshinogari Historical Park, which opened in April 2001, is divided into four zones, namely, the Entrance Zone, the Ancient Forest Zone, the Moat-Encircled Zone and the Ancient Field Zone. This is a place where visitors can gain first hand experience of the Yayoi period.

[B] Saga Castle History Museum (Saga City)

The Saga Prefectural Saga Castle History Museum offers hands-on information on "Saga during the late Edo period to the Meiji Restoration" whose prominent figures played a leading role in the modernization of Japan. This museum was constructed by faithfully restoring a part of the original main enclosure of Saga Castle as it was at the end of the Edo Period. This reconstructed building is the largest wooden structure of its kind in Japan. Around the main building, there is historic architecture such as the Tenshu-dai (donjon base), the Hori (moat) and the Shachi-no-mon (Shachi, an imaginary dolphin-like fish, gate), which was designated as a National Important Cultural Asset. These structures help visitors get an atmospheric feel of the Edo period.

[C] Yutoku Inari Shrine (Kashima City)

Being one of the three greatest Inari shrines in Japan, Yutoku Inari Shrine is popular amongst local people and has been given the moniker of "Yutoku-san". The contrast of the vivid vermillion color of the buildings with the surrounding greenery is impressive. The main architecture, including the main shrine, the front shrine and the two-storied gate, is all lacquered. Worshipped as the ancestral god of food, clothing and shelter as well as the guardian god of rich harvests, good business, family prosperity, large fish hauls and traffic safety, the shrine is visited by more than 2.8 million every year.
[Omikuji-Fortune Slip]
At a shrine, visitors can draw a fortune slip. Fortune slips tell people if they are going to have good or bad luck.

[D] Karatsu Castle (Karatsu City)

Karatsu Castle, a symbol of the city, was constructed in 1608. The present building was restored in 1966. Its grandiose donjon with five stories towers in the Karatsu sky. The castle is also called Maizuru Castle since the donjon is likened to a head of a crane and the pine forests grown on the left and right sides of the castle look like a crane spreading its wings.

[E] Nagoya Castle Ruins (Chinzei Town, Karatsu City)

The Nagoya Castle Museum and the Encampment Sites, a national historic landmark, which extend over Karatsu City and Genkai Town, served Toyotomi Hideyoshi as a base camp during the Bunroku - Keicho Campaigns (1592-1598). At this huge site, which covers a 3-km radius, more than 130 feudal lords from all over Japan gathered to construct their base camps for the wars. The adjoining Nagoya Castle Museum houses approximately 220 artifacts and materials, detailing Japan-Korea relations over the past 1,000 years, in the Permanent Collection Room. Its purpose is of serving as a hub to promote friendship and exchanges between the two countries.