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Maruoka Castle to be featured in one of Japan's largest festivals, "Castle EXPO 2024" ！.

Maruoka Castle （ Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture ） will be exhibiting at the "Castle EXPO 2024" to be held at Pacifico Yokohama North on December 21 （ Sat ） ～ 22 （ Sun ） 2024, to present its charm to castle fans ！
This year （ 2024 ） marks the 400th anniversary of the Maruoka Domain's independence from the Fukui Domain, and in October, we held the first castle EXPO in Hokuriku, the traveling ！ Castle EXPO in Sakai ・ Maruoka Castle 2024. The next event in that 400th anniversary of the Maruoka Clan's birth is the "Castle EXPO 2024" in Yokohama. The Maruoka Castle booth will be more powerful than last year's, with Sakai Hoyamaru, the official character of Sakai City, making his first appearance at the Castle EXPO 2024.

contents.1 ： Booth expansion

New game "Maruokahan turret game
In previous years, we exhibited with two booths in the tourist information area （ The size of one booth is about 3 m × 3 m ）. This year, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the birth of the Maruoka Clan, we will increase the number of booths to three for the first time, with a booth measuring approximately 9 m. The location is K-18. We will have a large booth with goods sales corner, armor dressing experience ＆ photo spot corner, and game corner, so please come and visit us. We will also sell popular goods such as the limited edition castle seal for Castle EXPO 2024, display the sceptered sceptered scepter （ and textile scepter ） and set up the Hyakuguchi Castle Lords Corner.


Sales of popular goods such as samurai seals and bookmarks

Free distribution of the very popular "Maruoka Castle Unknown （ Summary ）"

Books about Maruoka Castle

Travel back in time to the Warring States Period ！ Experience wearing armor
contents.2 ： Sakai Hoyamaru makes his first appearance

Yuruverse 2024 （ Sakai City's first appearance at the successor event of YuruChara Grand Prix ） and won 3rd place. Sakai City's official character "Sakai Hoyamaru". Hoyamaru, who has been in existence for less than a year, will visit the Castle Expo for the first time. At the Maruoka Castle booth, we will be selling acrylic key chains, Gugusuri Mamoru, and collaboration goods with Hikonyan, so please take this opportunity to buy them ！

Hoyamaru will also be on stage. ・ ・ ・ ？ Hoyamaru vs. the Warriors, please look forward to it ！ Current high school students will also dress up as the Warriors ！

＜ Stage Outline ＞
Date and Time ： December 22 （ Sun ） 10:00 ～ 10:30

Title ： Sakai City Official Character "Sakai Hoyamaru" on stage with Bushotai


Acrylic key ring

Gugusuri Mamoru

Hikonyan × Sakai Hoyamaru collaboration goods
contents.3 ： Super big collaboration stage with Kuma Mon and Hikonyan
Everybody knows ！ Kumamon, the famous Kumamoto Prefecture PR character, and Hikonyan, the character of Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, will perform with Sakai Hoyamaru This will be the first time in history that a single character will perform on stage at a castle expo, and the first time that Kumamon, Hikonyan, and Sakai Hoyamaru will perform together on stage. This will be the first time in history that Kumamon, HIYAN and Sakai Hoyamaru will perform together. In addition to promoting the castle, they will also perform a dance. Please come and witness this one-night-only large-scale collaboration ！

＜ Stage Outline ＞

Date ： December 22 （ Sun ） 16:00 ～ 16:30

Title ： Local Character Collaboration Stage （ KUMAMON ・ HIKONYAN ・ SAKAI HOYAMARU ）


We have a lot of fun plans waiting for all castle fans! Please come visit us at the Maruoka Castle booth ！

<概要>

Event Name ： "Castle EXPO 2024"

Period ： December 21, 2024 Sat ） ・ Dec. 22 （ Sun ）

9:00~18:00 （ Last day until 17:00 ） *Last castle entry 30 minutes before

Saturday Night Program

December 21, 2024 （ Sat ） 18:00~20:30 *scheduled

Location ： Pacifico Yokohama North （ 1-1 Minato Mirai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama City -2 ） and others

Saturday Night Program is held at the Main Hall on the 1st floor of the Pacifico Yokohama Conference Center

Organizer ： Castle EXPO

（ Japan Castle Association, Joubito ＜ Tohoku Shinsha ＞, Murayama Corporation, Pacifico Yokohama ）

Contents ： Themed Exhibition

Castle Tourist Information Zone, Elementary ・ Junior High School Students Free Castle

Special site ： https://www.shiroexpo.jp/

Reference information
Maruoka Castle, the Miraculously Restored Castle

Maruoka Castle, the Miraculously Restored Castle Maruoka Castle is one of the 12 existing castle towers that were built before the Edo period and remain in their original form to this day. Although it and its stone walls were completely destroyed by the Fukui Earthquake of 1948, the castle was restored and repaired in 1955 by reusing many of the materials of the keep, stone walls, and other major components, and has become an important cultural property of Japan. Of the 12 existing castle keepers, Maruoka Castle is the only one that has been restored from a completely collapsed state, and it is truly a miracle that the original appearance has been preserved and its value has continued to be passed down. Maruoka Castle is compared to a "wild warrior" because of its simple and rugged appearance that retains the dignity of the Warring States period. It is said to have been built by Katsutoyo Shibata, who was given "Toyohara" after the Echizen Ikkou Uprising was pacified by Nobunaga Oda. The stone-tiled roof, steeply sloping staircase, and two-story, three-story watchtower-style keep are the only existing keep in Hokuriku. As a result of recent research, it has been determined that the current castle tower was built around 1628, and among the 17 lords of the castle, four generations of the Honda family and eight generations of the Arima family maintained the Maruoka Domain at 50,000 koku until the end of the Edo period.