Gifu Castle
Following the Battle of Sekigahara, the victorious Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded Gifu Castle to his son-in-law, Okudaira Nobumasa. However, due to its poor state of repair, Nobumasa decided to abolish Gifu Castle and to relocate to a new castle built on the site of the old Kanō Castle. This new structure was completed in 1603 in record time, as Ieyasu had ordered various "daimyō" to contribute materials, labor and money for its construction, and the largest three-story "yagura" was transferred from Gifu Castle to be its "tenshu". The design of the castle was also kept simple, with a minimal number of towers, as the castle was being constructed as a center of local administration in peacetime.