First completed in 1561 under the lordship of Sakai Masachika, with a tenshu (donjon) constructed under the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1585, Nishio Castle changed hands across the early Edo-period before being controlled by five consecutive Matsudaira lords. With the handing of the grounds over to the new Meiji government in 1869, a full-scale demolition of the castle went underway from 1872 to 1878. The Honmaru Ushitora-yagura (tower - pictured here) was fully rebuilt in wood in 1996, along with the nearby Chūjaku-mon (Yellow Brass Gate). Nishio city apparently has plans to rebuild the original tenshu-kaku in the future.