It’s been almost 7 years since the devastating earthquakes of April 2016, and Kumamoto Castle is slowly but surely being rebuilt. Now that visitors are allowed back in the beautifully restored main keep, the focus has shifted to the long process of rebuilding Kumamoto’s many stone walls and turrets.

Because Kumamoto Castle’s walls are a culturally protected property, each surface stone must be put back in exactly the same place as before the earthquakes. This means that before any repairs can begin, every single stone needs to be catalogued and analyzed to figure out where it originally lay.

For now, the stones have been laid out in open areas around the castle and assigned unique ID numbers in preparation for the reassembly of this 100,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

On the northern side of Ninomaru Park, there is a small alcove in the barricade with detailed explanations on all the difficulties involved in restoring Kumamoto Castle’s stone walls.

There are also two small-scale rebuilding experiments here as well.

The black-and-white markings help measure if and how far the rocks move over time. From the side, you can also see how the castle walls are constructed, with large stones on the face propped up by filler stone.

As of January 2023, many of the large turrets that stand atop the stone walls have been dismantled so the walls can be rebuilt. The Iidamaru Five-Story Turret, famous for surviving the earthquakes by precariously balancing on a single column of stone, has been completely taken down so workers can begin to rebuild the wall that acts as its foundation.

Restoration is expected to take at least another 30 years, so there is still much to do. To look on the bright side, a visit to Kumamoto Castle now will probably be your only chance to see a real castle under construction, so don’t miss your chance! Also, don’t forget to check out our post on the best spot to view the castle!