Sonobejoato Castle

At Sonobe Castle, the gate, a corner turret and part of the wall still stand as they were — now serving as the main gate of Sonobe High School. The castle was built in the early Edo period by Koide Yoshichika, the first lord of the domain. The shogunate refused permission for a keep, so it remained a fortified residence rather than a castle proper; permission finally came under the Meiji government, at which point it became Sonobe Castle — and so it is called the last castle built in Japan. The southeast turret, the school gate and the guardhouse are provisionally registered cultural properties of the prefecture.