Especially the daimyo jinya of small domains were built in imitation of a castle, for example Sonobe-jo Castle and Komono Jinya (Komono-cho, Mie Prefecture) were constructed towards the end of the Edo period (1868) with a turret likened to a tenshu (main keep or tower of a castle), a mizubori (water-filled moat), low stone walls, and dorui (earthworks), and also Mori Jinya (Kusu Town, Oita Prefecture) had many stone walls in the adjacent shrine and a two-storied chaya (tea house) which was likened to a tenshu.
特に小藩の大名陣屋では、園部城や菰野陣屋（三重県菰野町）のように幕末（明治元年）に至って天守に見立てた櫓や水堀、低い石垣や土塁を築いたり、森陣屋（大分県玖珠町）のように隣接する神社境内に石垣を多用したり、天守に見立てた2階建ての茶屋を建てるなど、城郭を模したものもあった。