Forza Horizon 6: How to Complete Hirosaki Castle Photo and Hokubu Treasure Hunt

The Winter Festival’s Hirosaki Castle photo challenge and Hokubu Treasure Hunt fit into one 30-to-45-minute northbound drive. Start in Takashiro with a Classic Sports Car, photograph Hirosaki Castle from its courtyard, then continue into snowy Hokubu and search the car park on the north-west side of the Shikisai-No-Aka flower fields. Both activities rotate with the Winter Festival playlist, currently scheduled to end around August 6.

Requirements Before Leaving Takashiro

The Hirosaki objective fails if the car is in the wrong category, even when the castle is framed correctly. Change cars before driving to the landmark rather than arriving in a convenient winter build and having to return to a garage.

• Game version: Install the Series 3 Winter update and load the active Winter Festival playlist.
• Map access: Takashiro and Hokubu must be unlocked through Festival progression.
• Photo challenge car: Use any vehicle listed under Classic Sports Cars.
• Optional snow preparation: Winter Tires and a mild street-suspension setup make the later Hokubu drive more controlled, but they are irrelevant to the photo requirement.
• Fast travel: The Pink Wristband can make reaching the Hirosaki area easier through its nearby Speed Trap, though it is not required. The Hokubu chest has no direct fast-travel point.

To change cars, open Menu / Start → Cars → Change Car on controller, or Esc → Cars → Change Car on keyboard. In the garage list, open Filters with Y on controller or the displayed keyboard binding, then select Classic Sports Cars. An older Nissan Fairlady, Toyota sports model, Mazda RX-3, or any other eligible garage car will work. Performance rating does not matter for the challenge.

Part 1: Reach Hirosaki Castle in North-East Takashiro

Hirosaki Castle is in the north-east of the Takashiro region, close to the snowy northern edge of the map. The useful map landmark is a large rectangular raised plot surrounded by water. It sits north of a lake, with orange and white roads looping around the exterior like a moat road.

Open the map with View / Back on controller or M on keyboard. Place a waypoint on the rectangular island rather than on the roads beside it. A nearby Takashiro Festival location, race event, or the Nukabira Trail Event provides a reasonable starting point if a full cross-map drive is unnecessary.

Approach the Castle Grounds From the South

• Follow the road network toward the eastern side of Takashiro until the water-lined rectangular loop is visible.
• Stay on the outer road until a narrow bridge, stone ramp, or raised access path leads across the water.
• Drive onto the elevated courtyard rather than trying to photograph the building from the road below.
• Continue toward the south-east corner of the grounds, where the black-and-white main castle tower stands above the cherry blossom trees.

The access ramp is the point that wastes most time. The castle is visible from several angles around the moat, but the photo is easier to register from inside the grounds because the tower can fill the frame without trees, railings, or the outer road blocking it.

Take the “Classy Castle” Photo Correctly

Park in the courtyard with the castle tower behind or beside the car, then enter Photo Mode. The image must contain both the Hirosaki Castle landmark and the Classic Sports Car being used. A distant silhouette of the building is less reliable than a close, unobstructed composition.

• Keep the whole vehicle visible where possible, especially the front and side profile.
• Frame the castle tower clearly enough that its roofline and black-and-white façade are readable.
• Move closer to the south-east tower if the Photo Mode subject recognition does not appear.
• Wait for the game’s subject and requirement indicators before taking the picture.
• Take the shot only after the display confirms the castle and the required car type are being detected.

Common failure: taking an attractive landscape photo from the outer moat road. The image can show Hirosaki Castle but still fail because the car occupies too little of the frame or the landmark recognition does not lock on. Reposition in the courtyard and use the tower as the dominant background object.

Once the challenge completes, the Winter playlist awards its cosmetic reward, identified for this rotation as a white suit. Check the Festival Playlist immediately after taking the image; the completed tile is the confirmation that the challenge registered, rather than the saved screenshot alone.

Drive From Hirosaki Castle to Hokubu Without Chest Fast Travel

Leave Hirosaki Castle by the same bridge or ramp and take the northern road network into Hokubu. Keep the Classic Sports Car unless its snow handling has become a problem; changing vehicles is unnecessary after the photo, but a better winter setup can reduce slides on the final approach.

Set the next waypoint on the Shikisai-No-Aka flower fields in central Hokubu, not on an assumed chest icon. The Treasure Hunt clue points players toward a wooden building and snowy roadside scenery, but the chest is positioned in a small car park rather than out in the middle of the fields.

• Follow the northbound route from Takashiro until the landscape changes into Hokubu’s snow-covered roads and fields.
• Locate the Shikisai-No-Aka flower fields in the middle of the region.
• Use the highway along the north side of the fields as the main orientation point.
• Look for the smaller white road that cuts through the flower-field area.
• Search the strip of ground between that white road and the northern highway.

The route is deliberately more reliable than searching every snowy road suggested by the clue. Hokubu contains several wooden structures and roadside decorations, including the hay-bale scarecrows associated with the area. The correct destination is defined by its road layout: northern highway, inner white road, then a compact car park overlooking the snow-covered fields.

Hokubu Treasure Hunt Chest Location

The chest is on the north-western side of the Shikisai-No-Aka flower fields. It is next to a small garage building in a car park positioned between the highway that runs around the field’s north side and the white road running through the fields. From the car park, the chest looks out across the snow-covered flower plots.

Approach slowly once the small garage comes into view. The chest is easy to miss at speed because the building, parked-space markings, and snow blend into the same pale background. There is no need to solve an additional driving objective after reaching it: drive directly into the chest to break it open.

• Correct visual landmark: a small garage beside a car park.
• Correct regional landmark: the north-west side of the Shikisai-No-Aka flower fields.
• Correct road position: between the northern highway and the internal white road.
• Incorrect search area: the open center of the flower fields or isolated snowbanks away from the garage.
• Reward: 100,000 Credits for opening the chest, alongside the Treasure Hunt’s Festival Playlist progress.

Failure Checks for Both Winter Activities

If Hirosaki Castle does not register in Photo Mode, verify the current vehicle category first. A Classic Sports Car is mandatory; a classic-looking car from another manufacturer group or performance class will not satisfy the playlist tile. Then move into the courtyard, turn the camera toward the south-east tower, and retake the picture with the vehicle and tower fully visible.

If the Hokubu chest does not appear at the expected garage, confirm that the active playlist contains the Hokubu Winter Treasure Hunt and that the seasonal objective has been activated. The chest is not directly reachable through fast travel, so the final search must be done from the surrounding roads. Use the highway north of the flower fields as the reset point, then re-enter the car park between it and the white internal road.

The practical order remains fixed: photograph Hirosaki Castle while the Classic Sports Car requirement is active, then continue north to the Shikisai-No-Aka garage car park and smash the chest. This avoids a second Takashiro trip and clears both Winter Festival exploration tasks before the playlist rotates.