In the 2nd year of Keicho, or 1597 A.D., the then lord of the Province of　Bungo (today’s Oita Prefecture), Naotaka Fukuhara, opened his castle　in Oita city, known then as Funai. Called Niage-jo, it was the first flatland type in Bungo.

After being inaugurated as the succeeding lord in the 6th year of Keicho, Sigetoshi Takenaka has skilled stone-workers, sent by the lord of the Province of Higo (today’s Kumamoto), Kiyomasa Kato, build stone-walls around the castle ground. A donjon (rising central building) and a number of turrets were constructed on the ground as well as merchant’s houses surrounding it. All these made Funai a typical castle town, with the castle at the center of the city. Lord Takenaka changed the name of the castle from Niage-jo to Funai-jo. Whereas it was commonly known also as Hakuchi-jo (or the Castle of the White Pheasant).

The Oita Chuo Rotary Club banner, designed by Mr. Kiichiro Goto, who graduated from and did his postgraduate work at the Tama Fine Arts Academy, and who lives close to the castle, shows a turret standing at the south-western corner of the castle site. It is reminiscent of the past beauty of the Funai Castle.