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Okayama Castle

Okayama · Okayama · Architecture

Japanese name: 岡山城

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Okayama Castle
Photo: Kanesue / CC BY 2.0 · Source ↗
WHAT TO DOOkayama Castle

Clad in black-lacquered boards and nicknamed the crow castle, on an irregular pentagonal base.

WHEREOkayama

Bizen · Okayama

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Overview

Clad in black-lacquered boards and nicknamed the crow castle, on an irregular pentagonal base.

About this place

Okayama Castle (岡山城, Okayama-jō) is a Japanese castle in the city of Okayama in Okayama Prefecture in Japan. The main tower was completed in 1597, destroyed in 1945 and replicated in concrete in 1966. Two of the watch towers survived the bombing of 1945 and are now listed by the national Agency for Cultural Affairs as Important Cultural Properties. In stark contrast to the white "Egret Castle" of neighboring Himeji, Okayama Castle has a black exterior, earning it the nickname Crow Castle (烏城, U-jō) or "castle of the black bird". (The black castle of Matsumoto in Nagano is also known as "Crow Castle", but it is karasu-jō in Japanese.) Today, only a few parts of Okayama Castle's roof (including the fish-shaped-gargoyles) are gilded, but prior to the Battle of Sekigahara the main keep also featured gilded roof tiles, earning it the nickname Golden Crow Castle (金烏城, Kin U-jō).

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Source ja.wikipedia.org ↗

Key facts

Founded / opened:1597 Highlights / collection:Black-lacquered clapboards, Irregular pentagonal keep base Genre:Architecture

Source ja.wikipedia.org ↗

Official website

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Source city.okayama.jp ↗

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Written by Value Village from public sources. Nothing here is reproduced from another site. Languages: ja / en

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