Shimabara Hibaruyama Flower Park

Home of a vassal of the Matsudaira. The family owned the house for 11 generations.

The family served 13 successive lords of Shimabara Castle, lasting until the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.

A house for local magistrates.

An unusually striking castle reconstruction due to its regular, tall yet almost pyramidal, design. Furthermore, it is unique in that the town has clearly chosen functionality over form and forgone the usual garden in favour of placing a carpark on the castle plateau. Urgh. You can park 5 metres from the door. Despite this, the thin terraced gardens behind the castle, overlooking the ocean are packed to the brim with hydrangeas and really pretty.

A villa built at the end of the Meiji Period. The garden was built later, including its famous koi pond, which runs under it.

A museum roughly 3 km south of the port. Covers a variety of topics based upon the destruction of southern Shimabara by pyroclastic flows from Mt Unzen's eruption and future disaster prevention.