Shibata Shrine inside Castle Ruins

Located near JR Fukui station, Shibata Shrine stands on the Kitano-Sho Castle Ruins, enshrining a famous samurai in the Sengoku Period, Shibata Katsuie. After the assassination of his master, Oda Nobunaga, he fought with another prominent subject of Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, over the right to become Nobunaga's successor. Katsuie lost the competition, and killed himself in the main castle keep of Kitano-Sho Castle, which was located here in Fukui city. Nobunaga's sister, Oichi, was Katsuie's wife at the time, and she also chose to kill herself with her husband and ended her turbulent life here in 1583. Later, a small stone shrine was erected here, and it had been taken care of by the Fukui Matsudaira Clan for centuries until an official shrine was built in 1890, about 300 years after their tragic death. The current buildings were rebuilt in 1998.