Ikoma Chikamasa Begins Takamatsu Castle

Hideyoshi granted Sanuki to Ikoma Chikamasa in 1587. The following year Chikamasa began a new castle on the coast at Nohara, whose name became Takamatsu. Construction continued for several years as the Ikoma established their provincial base.

The castle combined central compounds with three rings of moats drawing seawater from the coast. Its enclosed residences and administrative spaces stood beside maritime access to the Inland Sea. Building the base involved earthworks, walls, gates and timber structures, rather than simply placing a tower on an existing shoreline.

Later Matsudaira rulers substantially enlarged and altered the castle. After entering in 1642, Yorishige rebuilt the keep and began new eastern and northern compounds; subsequent work added surviving towers and changed the main entrance. Chikamasa’s founding project established the site, while later governments produced much of the arrangement preserved today. The moats retain evidence of the coastal design despite later land reclamation.