Karatsu City in Saga Prefecture is a castle town that was flourished as a collection and distribution center of local ceramic ware.

Quality ceramic ware like Arita ware and Imari ware has been produced in the vicinity of Karatsu region since the 16^th century.  These products were collected here by river water transport to deriver by cargo boats all over the country and even to Western countries.  Among these products, quality earthen ware was highly reputed as tea utensils in Japan and white porcelain was very much prized in Western countries.  The name of Karatsu was globally known as a byword for quality ceramic ware. 

When a castle was built here was in 1608.  Terasawa Hirotaka, a newly appointed feudal lord, built the castle at the present site.  He also developed an urban area adjacent to the castle, while bolstering the function of sea transport by changing the flow route of the Matsuura River direct to the Bay of Karatsu as shown in the second photo.  In addition, he built a windbreak with so many pine trees along the coast on the west of the castle.  The windbreak remains now and is a popular sightseeing spot for the locals under the name of “Niji-no- Matsubara” literally meaning a rainbow pine grove.  

In this connection, the castle tower in the first photo was built in 1966, which didn’t originally stand but was built just for tourism.

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