In Najima, in Higashi Ward, lies the ruins of a castle of the same name. It was the first place Nagamasa Kuroda called home after moving from Nakatsu in Buzen (now western Oita Prefecture) to Chikuzen, a portion of which he was enfeoffed for his role in the Battle of Sekigahara. Najima Castle’s location on a small peninsula was not only inconvenient, it made the development of a castle town difficult, so Nagamasa decided to move his base of operations to a more spacious site. Najima Castle was abandoned in 1602.
The ocean near where the castle once stood has since been reclaimed and converted into an urban area. Part of the castle site has been turned into a park, but almost no original structures remain because the materials were used to help build Fukuoka Castle. Najima Castle’s Najima-mon gate and Kara-mon gate were purportedly relocated to Fukuoka Castle and Sofukuji Temple, the family temple of the Kuroda Clan, respectively.
Najima Castle was originally built by a late 16th century feudal lord named Akitoshi Tachibana. After Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s successful conquest of Kyushu, he awarded Chikuzen Province to his retainer Takakage Kobayakawa, who took up residence in Najima Castle. Although it proved inadequate for peacetime expansion, Najima’s strategic seaside location was valued during the Warring States Period.
Centuries later, in 1930, the Najima Seaplane Base was opened not far from the site of the old castle. It connected Fukuoka by air to other Japanese cities as well as to the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan. On September 17, 1931, Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne landed their Sirius seaplane at Najima during a Pacific survey flight for Pan American Airways. Not long after, however, the seaplane base closed as land-based airfields became mainstream. The site of the seaplane base, long since backfilled, is now a residential neighborhood, but a stone monument and a street called Lindbergh-dori serve as reminders of the historic visit.
