Odawara Castle is a landmark in the city of Odawara in
Kanagawa Prefecture. It was the stronghold of various daimyo during the
Muromachi period of Japanese history. From 1495 onward, five generations of
the Late Hojo clan held the castle. The extensive defenses, including
ditches, enabled the defenders to repel attacks by the great warriors Uesugi
Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took the castle in
1590, and awarded the holdings of the Hojo to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who in turn
installed the Okubo clan at Odawara.

During the Edo period, Odawara's strategic location on the Tokaido, between
mountainous Hakone and Sagami Bay, gave it great strategic importance. The
castle controlled the Tokaido between the Tokugawa headquarters at Edo and
the stations west of Hakone, including Sumpu (Shizuoka), Hamamatsu and
Nagoya

The Castle was torn down and competely rebuilt in 1960. Unfortunately I
wasnt allowed to take pictures inside the castle but it was pretty amazing
inside. It is now a museum, and has several artifacts which were really
interesting, the most being a Katana used by a samurai to avenge his
brothers murder. He had to get signed permission from the Shogun before
being allowed to kill the man who caused his brothers death.