Rachel & Jun visit Kiyosu Castle 清洲城 which is located in Kiyosu, eastern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is noted for its association with the rise to power of the Sengoku period warlord, Oda Nobunaga. The current partial reconstruction dates to 1989 and was built as a centennial celebration for the modern-day city of Kiyosu.
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Kiyosu Castle was built between 1394 and 1427 to guard the strategic junction of the Ise Kaidō with the Nakasendō highways connecting Kyoto with Kamakura. The area was dominated by Shiba Yoshishige, then head of the Shiba clan and the shugo (governor) of Owari, Echizen and Tōtōmi Provinces.
By the Meiji period, there was very little remaining of the ruins of Kiyosu Castle aside from earthenworks in the former main bailey. During the Shōwa period, a municipal park was created around the site of the castle, and a bronze statue of Oda Nobunaga was erected in 1936, portraying a young Nobunaga on the eve of the decisive Battle of Okehazama.
In 1989, to mark the centennial of the foundation of the modern town of Kiyosu, a reinforced concrete replica donjon was built. The reconstruction is not accurate, as no plans or illustrations of the original Kiyosu Castle have survived, and the reconstruction is based on the donjon of Inuyama Castle which is from the same period. Inside the structure is a history museum of local culture, with displays of arms and armour.
