Originally, Odawara castle was built as a rough fort on a hill site around 1200, the exact site of which is not known. During more than one hundred years of civil wars since the middle of the 15th cent., the central power of Japan gradua]ly declined, followed by the emergence of several different regional centres.
Odawara castle in feudal timeOdawara was one of them and gained strength especially in the 16th cent. under the rule of the Hojo family. Odawara became the central town of the whole Kanto area (most important part of eastern Japan). Odawara castle was rebuilt to become the most artificial and largest castle of Japan at the end of the 16th cent.
The castle was very strong because it was situated on a hill, surrounded by moats with water on the low side, and dry ditches on the hill side, banks, walls and cliffs were located all around the castle. Moreover, the "castle-town' Odawara was protected by the sea on the east side, and by rivers and mountains on all other sides. The fortifications were strong enough to sustain three mighty attacks in the 16th cent.
When Japan was reunified around 1600 with Edo as political and Kyoto as formal capital, Odawara castle lost most of its political importance and independence, but was still used as a defence fortification of Edo thro the Edo period, and it was finally possessed by the Okubo family.
Eventually Odawara castle building were destroyed when the post-feudal government (after 1870) ordered all castles to be destroyed. But the main buildings were rebuilt after the second world war, and are now living as a memory of old times and as a tourist attraction. In addition, they say that the descendants of abt. 20% of Odawara's feudal time military class are still living in or around Odawara .