Born in 1840, Goto Morinori was the 11th and final lord of the Goto (Fukue) domain. Under his father Morishige, construction of the Jotobana beacon began in 1846 and a breakwater in 1848, after the shogunate granted permission to build a coastal-defense fortress against the threat of foreign ships. After succeeding to the domain, Morinori completed this construction in 1863, finishing Fukue Castle as the Goto clan's residence. Built as a "sea castle" drawing seawater directly into its moats, it embodies the coastal-defense thinking of the late Edo period. He lost his position as domain lord with the abolition of the domains after the Meiji Restoration, and died in 1875.

A pragmatic figure who steadily completed the castle-building project begun by his father, finishing a coastal stronghold amid heightened concern over the arrival of foreign ships.

Because it was completed as late as 1863, Fukue Castle is known as "Japan's last castle," and its stone walls survive in nearly complete form. The Goto family garden within the castle grounds is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty.