Okayama Castle

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).

Text adapted from “Okayama Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Okayama Castle ranks #346 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #21 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1346, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 582 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 15,196 times in the last 60 days, more than 96% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Okayama, 2 km away. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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