Kiyomasa Builds the New Kumamoto Castle

Kiyomasa entered Higo in 1588 and initially occupied the older Kumamoto castle. He began repairs there in 1590, then developed a new stronghold on the Chausuyama plateau. The official chronology gives 1599 as a probable start; the main keep was completed around 1600, before the wider complex was finished in 1607.

Stone walls supported the enclosures, with steep upper slopes characteristic of the castle’s defenses. Keeps, turrets and guarded gates occupied the large complex. Completion in 1607 was accompanied by changing the written town name from 隈本 to 熊本. The new castle served Kiyomasa’s household and, after the Katō forfeiture of 1632, the Hosokawa government.

Its later history changed what survives. Fire destroyed the original keeps and main palace in 1877. The present keeps were reconstructed in reinforced concrete in 1960, then damaged in the 2016 earthquakes and repaired by 2021. Early stonework and surviving wooden buildings belong to the historic castle; the reconstructed keeps are a later representation of its appearance.