Hiroshima castle, around which grew the present town was built in the late XVI century and has survived all the traditional ancient Japanese buildings natural disasters and organized medieval problem – raids, fires and earthquakes. But was completely destroyed in the twentieth century – at the time of the atomic bombing in August 1945. From the building were only the stone foundations and fragments of walls, now there is a memorial plaque in memory of the incident nuclear disaster. In 1958 the castle was rebuilt in reinforced concrete. The work was carried out including and donated by residents of the city for the better, because it was restored to a Shinto Shrine to Gokoku Jinja, part of the castle complex.

Now the building of the castle is a Museum which presents the history of the castle itself, there are also exhibitions dedicated to Japanese culture. One of the values of the Museum is the collection of swords Dating from XVIII century. In the upper level of the castle is an observation deck, which offers views of Hiroshima and Miyajima.

The construction of the castle in this area was begun in 1589, by order of the feudal Lord Mori Terumoto who ruled in nine Japanese provinces. The place chosen for the construction of the castle was the center of its managed lands. Castle it was decided to build on one of the Islands in the Delta of the river OTA. Before the appearance of the castle in these lands was not a large settlement, the area was called Okamurai (translated as "five villages"). With the advent of the castle the ground around him began to be built and populated, and this process took place spontaneously and randomly without any planning. Then the adjoining city was renamed Hiroshima – the name of the castle. According to one version, the name was formed as fragments derived from the names of two people – the founder of the Mori clan and assistant daimyo. According to the second version, the name castle received by location in the Delta located the whereabouts of. It is translated from Japanese as "island wide". The castle was also known as the "Castle Karpov", as the terrain near the river was called "the Bay carp".

In 1600, after the battle of Sekigahara Mori Terumoto lost almost all their possessions and left the castle. The new owner became the Fukushima Masanori, provincial daimyo of Aki and Bingo, which subsequently formed the Hiroshima Prefecture. In 1617 he was transferred to another district, and the castle came into the possession of the Asano clan for two and a half centuries. During this time the castle was replaced 12 owners.

In 1894, during the Sino-Japanese war the castle was based the General staff of the Armed forces of Japan. Since 1931, the castle has the status of national treasures.