Refuge of a Maladjusted Moose

On my previously mentioned trip to Osaka I also got the chance to go to 2 Japanese Castles, Osaka Castle and Okayama Castle (a City about 50 minutes away from Osaka by Bullet train).

I found both Castles to be very informative (which is good). The tours of both take you to the tops floors of the Castles from which you can view the surrounding area. This is good for Site seeing and picture taking. Then as you walk down all the levels of the Castle you are slowly told about its history, along with seeing any accompanying artefacts. There are also often chances to get your picture taken wearing old style clothing etc. Not of much interest to me but of note to some.

I should perhaps mention that Japanese Castles tend to differ a bit from their western counterparts. Instead of oft Gothic stone buildings they are high rise wooden structures with a slight Pagoda style to them. There defence tends to be in the form of huge ramparts and moats built in many cases with massive stone slabs. However the wooden nature of the internal buildings does mean that they have a tendency to burn down. Indeed both the castles I looked at were 1960 reconstructions as the originals were burnt down during WW2 bombing.

Osaka Castle is surrounded by a quite impressive park, due in part to the equally impressive footprint of its surrounding defences. Once you have walked for 20 odd minutes to get to the Castle you can start to learn its brief history. I'm not going to go into much detail here but essentially it was built by the Son of a farmer who grew to great providence. So much so he had the Political power to go to war with Korea. After his death though his son promptly buggered it all up and Tokagawa came along and burnt the Castle to the ground. It was rebuilt afterwards but never again reached any state of importance. Its kinda funny that such an impressive Castle had such a short time in the lime light.

Okayama Castle, or the Crow Castle, is of particular note for its dark exterior. I don't have as much to say about this one, but it does have a prominent history of use for a few hundred years (complete with a portrait gallery). One tower is still original but another few towers, gates, and the main building all burnt down in WW2. Still they have done a pretty good job of restoring the Castles I think. Also of note for this Castle was that although the majority of the information contained in it was not in English, I did receive a pamphlet which was packed with useful info about the Castle. This was so much better than Fukuchiyama Castle which has no English and is little more than a small museum with no theme.

Finally here are a few pictures. More can be found in my Albums to the side for those interested.