Kanazawa Castle Park

Outline of Building Kanazawa Castle Park

History of the Project

The history of the Kanazawa Castle site started in 1546, when Kanazawa Mido, a religious school, was founded. After that, Sakuma Morimasa built Oyama Castle in 1580 under orders from Oda Nobunaga. Three years later, the feudal lord Maeda Toshiie entered the castle. After that, fourteen generations of the Maeda Family lived in the castle until 1869.
Since the Meiji period, the site was used as the headquarter of the army until the end of World War II. Then, it became the main campus of Kanazawa University.
Now Kanazawa University campus has moved to the Kakuma district, a suburb of Kanazawa. As a consequence of the move, Ishikawa Prefecture set up an informal committee in 1991 to discuss how to use this site, and two years later the park building project started, following the committee's suggestion that the site should be used as a park or cultural facility.
In 1996, the park building project officially began, and Ishikawa Prefecture bought the site from the national government. In this way, Kanazawa Castle Park, which is located in the very center of Kanazawa, and which extends for 28.5 hectares (over six times as big as Tokyo Dome), could be re-opened to the public, 450 years after the foundation of Kanazawa Mido.

Purpose of the Project

The site of Kanazawa Castle, together with Kenrokuen Park, is a valuable historical and cultural asset for people living in Ishikawa. This park building project aims at publicizing this valuable site, preserving it for the next generations, and activating the downtown area.

Park Building Policies

Based on the actual divisions of the site, the park is to be built according to the historical fact and without damaging the valuable trees found there. By reproducing the historical construction of the era, it aims at being a park where people can enjoy the castle atmosphere as it was in days of old.
For this project, advice has been sought from various parties, such as specialists in castles and historical landmarks, scholars, and representatives of local citizens.