Obi Castle Town

飫肥城下町

Obi is a town of well-preserved samurai houses in Miyazaki’s Nichinan City. Obi Castle dates back to the 15th century, when it was built by the Shimazu family of Kagoshima to protect them from their long-standing enemies, the Itoh family. The Itohs captured the castle during a war in 1484. Almost 100 years later, the Shimazus recaptured it, but quickly lost it again to Hideyoshi Toyotomi, a famous warlord and ally of the Itoh family, who then ruled from the castle for the next fourteen generations. Among the homes you can visit are Yoshokan, the home of the head of the Itoh family, which features a meticulously landscaped Japanese garden and Matsuo no Maru, a large, modern replica of a nobleman’s residence from the Edo period (1603-1867), and the Obi Clan Historical Museum, where samurai armor and weapons are displayed.