is a

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

in the city of

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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 The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

as Important Cultural Properties. In stark contrast to the white "Egret Castle" of neighboring

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

, Okayama Castle has a black exterior, earning it the nickname 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 Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

the main keep also featured gilded roof tiles, earning it the nickname .

History

In 1570,

Ukita Naoie was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. He was born in Bizen Province, to Ukita Okiie, a local samurai leader and head of the Ukita clan. He has historical reputation as one of , a nickname which he shared with Matsunaga Hisahide a ...

killed castle lord Kanemitsu Munetaka and started remodeling the castle and completed by his son Hideie in 1597. Three years later, Hideie sided with the ill-fated

Toyotomi Clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

at the Battle of Sekigahara, was captured by the

Tokugawa Clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

and exiled to the island prison of Hachijo. The castle and surrounding fiefdoms were given to

Kobayakawa Hideaki (1577 – December 1, 1602) was the fifth son of Kinoshita Iesada and a nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was gained the rank of ''Saemon no Kami'' (左衛門督) or in China ''Shikkingo'' (執金吾) at genpuku and held the court title of ...

as spoils of war. Kobayakawa died just two years later without leaving an heir, and the castle (and fiefdom) was given to the

Ikeda Clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

, who later added Kōraku-en as a private garden. In 1869 the castle became the property of the Meiji government's '' Hyōbu-shō'' (Ministry of War), who saw the 'samurai' era castles as archaic and unnecessary. Like many other castles throughout Japan, the outer moats were filled in, most castle buildings were dismantled and the old castle walls gradually disappeared underneath the city. On June 29, 1945, allied bombers burnt the main keep, and an adjacent gate, to the ground, leaving only two turrets and some of the stone walls remaining. Reconstruction work on the keep and gate began in 1964 and was completed in 1966. In 1996 the rooftop gargoyles were gilded as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations. The reconstructed main keep is a concrete building complete with air-conditioning, elevators and numerous displays documenting the castle's history (with a heavy focus on the Ikeda era.) Little information is available in English. Access to the inner sanctuary is free.

Gallery

File:Okayama castle.jpg, Okayama castle with last cherry leaves of autumn File:Okayama_Castle_03.jpg, The main facade of Okayama Castle File:Okayama_Castle.IMG_5917.jpg, Okayama castle File:Okayama_castle17n3200.jpg, Okayama castle and the Asahi river File:Okayama_Castle,_November_2016_-02.jpg, Okayama Castle (November 2016) File:Okayama_castle21.jpg, Okayama castle in a historic painting File:Burg_Okayama_Plan.jpg, Okayama castle plan

References

External links

Okayama Castle Guide homepage (in English)
{{Authority control Castles in Okayama Prefecture Buildings and structures in Okayama Museums in Okayama History museums in Japan Houses completed in 1597 Historic Sites of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II Ikeda clan Kobayakawa clan Ukita clan

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links