Okayama Castle

WF in the last week

Small castle with a lot less crowd. Photogenic especially in autumn and at dawn. Worth a visit if one happens to be in Okayama. Not for people going after big tourist attractions.

John Paul Chavez a month ago

This castle is very beautiful from the outside. The black color of the facade stands out in a blue sky background. I didn’t get the chance to go inside as it was too early that time. But strolling around the park and the river nearby is enough 🥰

Bent Zent a month ago

Pretty castle which is nice to visit and take a look at if you are in Okayama. Contrasts in colour to the white of Himeji and Osaka Castle. It is also located next to the Korakuen so easy to see both in succession. The gardens and areas around the castle are all free, and admission is only charged for entry to the main keep itself.

Nathan f 2 months ago

Worth visiting if you're in town, though it is not good enough ( for foreign tourists at least ) to visit town just for this. Unlike Himeji or Matsumoto which have largely left their interiors unmodified ( bar the museum in Matsumoto on one of the floors ) , Okayama has instead built a museum inside the husk of a castle. That brings several benefits and negatives. It is less grand and beautiful than either of the other two castles mentioned , but it has several PROS : it is air conditioned throughout the entire building, so it is bearable in summer and winter; it has many exhibits that would be educational and fun for both Japanese kids and adults; there plenty to read and interact with about the region's and the castle history; it is very easy to go around the castle as it has modern stairways and even an elevator ! For contrast , both of the other castles had more authentic stairs, which made it a little slow and tedious to get around. The CONS: it is not an authentic castle experience that illustrates what a castle looked like or how it functioned ( bar some pictures or demonstrations made for kids ). It has instead used the castle itself as a prop. Also, it is unkind to foreigners in its design , as it is mainly in Japanese, with the title of some exhibits translated to English. Sometimes there's a QR code where you can read in English, Korean or Chinese, though that is very annoying to do manually dozens of times. It would be far better to have full descriptions in at least english as well, and the other two languages where feasible , OR, have a multilingual audio guide that you can use while you walk through the building. The exterior of the castle is all free and has some nice photo spots. Entrance to the main part of the castle was quite cheap at ¥400. It's quite disappointing that they've clearly poured money into the reconstruction and maintenance of the castle , but failed on delivering the right experience. If I were fluent in reading and writing Japanese, this would probably get a 4 star rating, however it is poorly equipped to provide for non-japanese guests.

Nicholas Pun 4 months ago

Kind of mid. Himeji castle is a lot better and the castle is a lot more cool. This spot is great for history buffs interested in Okayama history though. The museum seems pretty thorough. All the descriptions are in Japanese but they have QR codes that provide the English translation.