JAPAN ALMANAC
Interpretive illustrated fallback for Ashikaga Clan Residence / Banna-ji; not a site photograph.

Castle Atlas / No. 15

Ashikaga Clan Residence / Banna-ji

Ashikaga Clan Residence / Banna-ji is Foundation list no. 15, recorded in 栃木県足利市 as a 平城 site associated with 足利義兼 and 源氏、足利氏.

Open in Google MapsOfficial visitor source

History

What historically stood here

The Japan Castle Foundation records 足利氏館 as a 平城 site in 足利市, with the founding label 平安時代末期～鎌倉時代初期. The listed builder or associated clan is 足利義兼; principal lords are 源氏、足利氏.

Today

What you are actually seeing today

The atlas currently classifies the visible condition as original surviving structures without keep. Check the linked operator page for current hours, fees and restoration details.

Current condition
Original buildings, no keep
Terrain
Hirajiro: flatland castle
Condition note
Banna-ji's main hall, on the clan residence site, is a National Treasure. Classified 2026-09-24 from the structured fields at https://cmeg.jp/w/castles/1236.

Architecture And Defense

How to read the place

This record still needs feature-level reporting. For now, do not assume the most visible modern structure is the most historically important part of the castle.

Cultural-property notes in the Foundation row: 史跡・鑁阿寺［ばんなじ］の建造物として国宝1棟, 重要文化財2棟, 県・市指定のものが多数ある.

National Treasure context: listed in Foundation cultural-property field.

Visit

Present-day visitor information

Foundation-linked visitor source available; current hours, fees, closures and restoration information have not been republished in this first atlas pass.

Address or access location
栃木県足利市家富町（鑁阿寺）
Coordinates
36.337391, 139.452256
Nearest useful station
See official visitor information.
Estimated visit duration
See official visitor information.
Opening hours
Check the official visitor source.
Admission
Check the official visitor source.

Nearby

Castles close enough to compare

Sources

Source and correction context

Identity, list membership, Foundation list number, municipality, basic classification and cultural-property notes are source-verified. Site-level visitor details require additional review unless this record is publishable. Foundation numbers are official list identifiers, not rankings. Coordinates use the Foundation-linked position-data KML and should be treated as visitor-planning coordinates rather than archaeological survey points.

Sources

  1. Japan's Top 100 and Continued Top 100 Castle Position Data, Japan Castle Foundation / Nippon Castle. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the 200 castle addresses and coordinates exposed through the public map linked from the Japan Castle Foundation castle-search page.
  2. Japan's Top 100 Castles, Japan Castle Foundation. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used for the official identity, list number, list membership, location municipality, castle type, founding label, builders, principal lords, cultural-property notes, and keep-status notes for the original 100-castle selection.
  3. 100 Fine Castles of Japan and Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan, Wikipedia contributors. Accessed 2026-09-04. Used only as a secondary cross-check for common English castle names; Japan Castle Foundation records remain the corpus source of truth.
  4. Nippon Shiro Meguri castle records: keep structure, remains and rebuilt structures, Nippon Shiro Meguri (cmeg.jp). Accessed 2026-09-24. Structured fields for each of the 200 castles, used to classify what stands at each site today. The linked record for each castle is its coordinate source.