Fukuoka Castle

Fukuoka Castle, also called Maizuru Castle, was built in the early seventeenth century by the powerful Kuroda clan on a hill overlooking Hakata Bay. Once one of the largest fortresses in Kyushu, it lost its main keep and most buildings during the Meiji era, leaving impressive stone ramparts, gates, and turrets that trace its former scale. The grounds are now part of a public park famous for cherry blossoms in spring, when thousands gather beneath the flowering trees. From the highest walls, visitors survey the city grown up around the site.