Okayama Castle Travel Guide: A Must-See Sight in Okayama, One of the Prefecture’s Three Famous Castles

The main keep is famous for its black-and-gold exterior made with black lacquered siding boards and gold-leaf tiles, but that’s not its only feature.
It also has many distinctive elements, including its complex four-tier, six-story watchtower-style structure, its irregular pentagonal layout, and its massive stone walls.
Don’t just admire it from afar—get close and take a good look at every detail.
It was once designated a National Treasure, but burned down in the 1945 Okayama air raids.
Rebuilt in 1966, it now functions as a museum.
With seven floors from Basement 1 to the 6th floor, it not only displays historical materials about Okayama, but also offers hands-on experiences themed around the Edo period and the Sengoku period.

Tsukimi Yagura (Moon-Viewing Turret) was built in the Edo period and is the only turret that still exists on the site of Okayama Castle’s Honmaru (main enclosure).
It’s a valuable structure designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
It’s said that Tsukimi Yagura was built not only for castle defense, but also to enjoy views of the four seasons and host small gatherings.
One theory says it came to be called Tsukimi Yagura because the castle lord used it to view the moon.
From the outside it looks like two stories, but it’s actually three—another distinctive feature worth seeing.

Don’t miss Ujo Togenkyo, the illumination event at Okayama Castle.
Held in spring, summer, and fall, the theme and content vary by year and season.
The theme also differs by area within the grounds, so you can enjoy a variety of scenes.
When Ujo Togenkyo is being held, Okayama Korakuen also hosts an illumination event—so try to visit both.
To see the enchanting, refined atmosphere of Okayama Castle and Okayama Korakuen, be sure to explore not only in the daytime, but at night as well.

Like Tsukimi Yagura, Nishite Yagura survived wartime damage and is designated as a National Important Cultural Property.
It’s said to have been built around 1603 to around 1615, and it was where the castle lord lived with his family after retiring.
Because of that, it was designed for everyday life, with features such as a tatami-floored hall on the second floor with a tokonoma alcove, and storm shutters and windows with waist-high shoji screens.

The Hayashibara Museum of Art is a registered museum in Okayama Prefecture built on the former site of Okayama Castle.
It’s a little away from Ujo Park, which has been developed as the castle ruins, but it displays valuable antiques handed down from the Ikeda clan, who once ruled Okayama Castle—so it’s well worth visiting together with the castle.
Centered on swords, the collection also includes weapons, armor, and paintings, and you can see National Treasure Japanese swords as well as Important Cultural Property folding screens.
If you love Japanese history, this is a museum you should visit.

A daimyo garden created by the Okayama domain lord Ikeda Tsunamasa as a place for relaxation, and it reached a tentative completion in 1700.
In Tsunamasa’s time, it was a garden to enjoy views from the garden’s sitting rooms, but the scenery changed over the eras due to social conditions and the lords’ tastes. Features such as waterways and ponds were added, gradually making it more of a strolling garden.
Enyotei, used as the lord’s living quarters, is the most important building, designed to offer a panoramic view of the garden’s scenery.
Ryuten was used for the lord’s garden strolls, entertaining guests, and as a resting place, and is unusual for the canal that runs through its center.

Only 12 castles nationwide, including Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, still have an original surviving main keep—and among mountain castles, only Bitchu Matsuyama Castle does.
In addition to its two-level main keep, parts of a double turret and earthen walls remain, and you can tour areas inside the keep such as rooms prepared for siege defense and a large hall with a hearth.
Mount Gagyu, with an elevation of Approx. 1,575 ft, is a collective name for four peaks—Omatsuyama, Tenjin-no-maru, Komatsuyama, and Maeyama—and the castle was built around these four peaks.
What remains today is the early modern castle section on Komatsuyama at an elevation of 1,411 ft, which was rebuilt from a medieval castle.

Its predecessor was Tsuruyama Castle, built by Yamana Tadamasa in 1441, and it was abandoned due to the Onin-Bunmei War.
Later, Mori Tadamasa—known as the younger brother of Mori Ranmaru, a close retainer of Oda Nobunaga—renamed “Tsuruyama” to “Tsuyama” and began construction.
From 1604, it took 13 years to complete the grand castle, making it one of Japan’s three major hilltop castles.
The area around the ruins has been developed as Kakuzan Park and is also known as a famous spot where around 1,000 cherry trees bloom in full glory.
In season, you can view the illuminated cherry blossoms from atop the stone walls.