Toyota Gojōin Project

A French Toyota City employee will introduce Toyota City's castles and the tourist spots around them, along with the Toyota Gojōin Project.

Written by

Tourism Toyota

Tourism Toyota is an organization that making the most of Toyota City's manufacturing industry and diverse resources such as the natural environment, contributes to the development of local tourism industry, and disseminates tourism information through the official tourist information website. Starting with the nationally famous Korankei spot for autumn foliage, the Toyota Oiden Summer Fireworks Festival attracting many tourists, and the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art exhibiting Japanese leading contemporary art works, etc. Toyota City is known as the City of Automobiles, but it is actually a city full of charm. It has a variety of tourism resources and amazing sightseeing spots. Tourists are welcome to visit many times throughout the year. In order for Toyota City to continue to be chosen as a tourist destination in the future, we are working hard to show the charm of Toyota City, discover and enhance tourism resources, and contribute to the development of tourism in the region.

more

This service includes sponsored advertisements.

Hello everyone, it’s nice to meet you! I’m Angie, from France. Since August of this year, I’ve been working as a Coordinator for International Relations at Toyota City Hall, specifically within the Internationalization Promotion Division. Going forward, I’d like to share with you some tourist spots in Toyota City.In this first article, I’d like to introduce the “Toyota Gojōin Project”. Did you know that there are more than 150 castles or castle ruins in Toyota? Among these, 12 gojōin, or calligraphies proving that you have visited a castle, are currently available for purchase.But first, let’s talk about the Sakura Castle (Cherry Blossom Trees Castle). All that is left of this castle nowadays is the base of a corner turret. It was named “Sakura Castle” because it's surrounded by many cherry blossom trees, and it’s now being used as a park.For lunch, I enjoyed the “Mamezen Lunch” at the Japanese restaurant Mamean. There were various delicious dishes such as tofu skin sashimi, tempura, and sesame tofu. From the cuisine to the room, everything had a very Japanese touch to it, creating an incredible atmosphere.Following this, I visited the Shichishū Castle (Seven Provinces Castle). It received this name because it used to overlook seven realms: the realms of Mikawa, Owari, Mino, Shinano, Iga, Ise and Ōmi. Although only the original foundations remain today, which support a reconstruction of the tower, I thought it was a wonderful building. Given my affinity for Japanese castle architecture, I felt fortunate to be able to see it up close.Sakura Castle’s gojōin is quite pretty, with its cherry blossom design and pink background, while Shichishū Castle gojōin showcases a stylish green design with the image of an archer. Both bear the family crest of the Naitō Clan, which ruled over these castles. If you collect all 12 of them, a hidden phrase will appear on the back side, so I’m very eager to gather them all.  

Mamean Eki-Mae Shop https://www.tourismtoyota.jp/en/foods/detail/148/

Toyota Gojōin Project (in Japanese)