Abandoned Kansai

If a location looks German, has a German name, and is presented on Abandoned Kansai, it most likely is a real one in Germany… or a more or less fake one in Japan. Willkommen in der Drachenburg!

The Drachenburg (“Dragon Castle”) is a massive concrete house in a weekend home community. It was built in 1976 and rented to families and groups, most likely for weekends or full weeks. The Drachenburg’s design is obviously based on European style castles from the Middle Ages – from the looks of it, I’d classify it as a Trutzburg (counter-castle) or Hangburg (hillside castle), but I am not an expert in medieval history or castle architecture. In any case, it’s a massive construction that makes you feel small, especially when approaching through the garden and up the outdoor stairs to the main entrance. That area also featured some sitting accommodations, an outdoor shower, and probably a now overgrown area to set up a BBQ.
The first floor (ground floor in pretty much the rest of the world) of the Drachenburg offered indoor showers, lots of storage, a ping-pong table and some kind of changing rooms. From there a half-spiral staircase lead up past the second and third floor to the top. The second floor was the heart of the Drachenburg and the main entertainment area. The walls of the open area were clad in a heavy, high quality and very detailed ruby red and white wallpaper – there was a bar with a small kitchen area, a fireplace, a pool table, a sound system with several speakers and a couple of smaller items, like a rocking chair, a soroban (Japanese abacus) and some taxidermy birds. The third floor looked like a mid-size Japanese apartment – wooden or tatami floor, a bathroom, a shower and some more storage. The more or less flat roof once must have offered a gorgeous view. But after about 10 years of abandonment the surrounding trees grew as big as the Drachenburg itself – and much closer. The roof still got more than its share of sunlight and offered another set of tables and chairs, water supply and probably a BBQ, but in the early summer heat of my visit being on the roof felt like being under a magnifying glass, so I didn’t spend that much time up there.

Overall the Drachenburg was an amazing exploration and almost everything I hoped it would be ever since I found out about it 1.5 years prior to my visit. Sure, the suit of armor had been stolen, but other than that the fortress was still in pretty good condition – probably because it is a bit off the beaten tracks and was not well known back then. Despite being rather small (according to GoogleMaps barely 5 by 10 meters) there was quite a lot to see – and it was a truly unique location! There are not that many Western style castles in Japan and not that many abandoned ones. The overlap should be a number very close to 1…

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