Tokushima Castle was constructed in 1586 by Hachisuka Iemasa after he inherited Awa Province (present-day Tokushima Prefecture) via his father, Hachisuka Koroku. The castle survived intact throughout the Edo Period, but nearly all of its buildings were torn down in 1875 following the Meiji Restoration. The castle grounds were converted into a park in 1905 in commemoration of Japan's victory against Russia. The castle's only surviving original structure, the Washi-no-mon Gate, was destroyed in 1945 by Allied bombing, and then restored again in 1989.