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Residential castle of Oda Nobunaga, built 1576-9 on the strategic eastern coast of the great Biwa Lake in Shiga. The location allowed control of the major water and highway routes by which goods and people moved through the Kinki region.
The central and symbolic element of the castle was the keep (or donjon), which towered seven stories - fully 37m - into the sky. Lois Frois, the Jesuit father, visited the castle and recorded that inside the keep all was gold leaf, with fantastically elaborate ornamentation. The interior walls and sliding screens were painted by the famous Kano Eitoku, and his pupils. Some represented birds and flowers and others Chinese sages of yore. The keep not so much a military structure as a palace. It was envisaged as the stage on which Nobunaga could act out control of the whole realm.
A town was laid out below, and retainers, merchants and artisans were offered incentives to move there. Azuchi became the crucible of Nobunaga's economic policies. When Nobunaga was attacked by Akechi Mitsuhide at the Honno-ji, the castle was put to the torch.

Oda Nobunaga

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The Battle of Okehazama　 Open Markets and Open Guilds　 Nobunaga and the 'Nanban' Taste　