Wakayama Castle was believed to be built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1585 when he conquered Kishu and ordered his younger brother Hidenaga, who served as his second-in-command, to make a castle with Toudo Takatora on Mt Torafusu.
After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Hidenaga moved to Koriyama Castle. After that, Tokugawa Ieyasu's tenth son, Yorinobu, became the castle's lord in 1619.
At that time, Yorinobu established the Kishu Tokugawa family, one of the three Tokugawa families.
In 1621, the castle was renovated, and the castle town was expanded. Later, a three-story large keep, a two-story small keep, and Turrets connecting by corridors (linked keep style) were built. This style was used in Edo Castle, Himeji Castle, and Matsuyama Castle, and Wakayama Castle was also approved as a linked keep-style castle.
The castle tower was fired and destroyed by lightning in 1846 and rebuilt in 1850 but was again destroyed by the Wakayama Air Raid on July 9, 1945.
The current castle tower was reconstructed in 1958 under the direction of Michio Fujioka, professor emeritus at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, at the request of Wakayama City. The castle was used reinforced concrete construction. Although the materials and structure are different, the restored appearance is so good that it can be compared with photographs.