- Type
- Castle
- Built
- c. 1590 · 16th century
- Site origins
- 1346 per Wikidata – an earlier stronghold or first mention
- Location
- Okayama Prefecture, Japan
- Visiting
- probably – Wikidata lists it as a museum or gives tickets, opening hours or visitor numbers; check before you go
- Coordinates
- 34.6653°, 133.9361°
History
Fortifications stood on the hill above the Asahi River as early as the 14th century, but the castle owes its present form to Ukita Hideie, one of the five elders who governed Japan after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death. He began building around 1590, and the tower was completed in 1597. After Hideie's defeat at Sekigahara in 1600 the castle passed to Kobayakawa Hideaki, and from 1603 the Ikeda clan held it for more than two and a half centuries. Between 1687 and 1700 the daimyo Ikeda Tsunamasa laid out the Kōrakuen garden across the river. The tower, designated a National Treasure before the war, burned in an American air raid in June 1945 and was rebuilt in reinforced concrete in 1966.
What to see
The black tower stands on an irregular five-sided base, its roofs decorated with gilded tiles and shachihoko fish. Inside is a museum of Ikeda family heirlooms, and the top floor gives views over the whole city. Two turrets survive from the Edo period, the Tsukimi-yagura and the Nishinomaru-nishite-yagura. From the castle it is worth crossing the bridge to Kōrakuen, counted among Japan's three finest gardens, where the castle's silhouette forms part of the scenery.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q1013448
Popularity: articles about this site in 24 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).