Fushimi Castle
The floors of this castle became the blood-stained ceilings of Kyoto's temples.
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Toyotomi Hideyoshi built it in 1592 as a gilded retirement palace — its Golden Tea Room had walls and implements covered in gold leaf. After a 1600 siege where Torii Mototada held off Ishida Mitsunari for eleven days, the corridor floors were salvaged into temple ceilings across Kyoto. The original site became Emperor Meiji's mausoleum. The current castle is a replica constructed in 1964 near the original site, and the Azuchi-Momoyama period of Japanese history partially takes its name from this castle.
What to look for
- The Golden Tea Room, where both walls and implements were originally covered in gold leaf
- The Emperor Meiji Mausoleum occupying the original castle site a short walk away
- Blood-stained ceiling panels at Yōgen-in, Genkō-an, or Hōsen-in temples in Kyoto — salvaged from the corridor where Torii's garrison committed seppuku
The current building is a replica constructed in 1964, not the original structure; pair it with a visit to one of the nearby temples that holds an original blood-stained ceiling panel.
Fushimi Castle is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Kyoto, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Kyoto pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Kyoto
- Kiyomizu-dera TempleA monk traced a golden stream to its source on Mount Otowa in 778. Pilgrims are still arriving.
- Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)A gold-wrapped pavilion torched by a novice monk in 1950 and rebuilt by 1955 — every gleaming surface you see is modern.
- Fushimi Inari-taishaTen thousand orange gates, every single one paid for by a Japanese business, tunnel up a sacred mountain.
- Heian-kyō (Kyoto)Japan's capital for over a thousand years — and by one legal argument, still.
- Ginkaku-ji (Silver Pavilion)The silver coating was never applied — and that unfinished state became the point.
- Kyoto Imperial PalaceJapan's imperial seat for 538 years — until the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo and the palace lost its central role.