.... is one of the most impressive of the half-dozen or so I've seen in Japan - beautifully restored after the insanity of WWII.

Okayama Castle 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).

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 and the old castle walls gradually disappeared underneath the city. On June 29, 1945, allied bombers burnt the castle to the ground. Reconstruction work began in 1964 and was completed in 1966. In 1996 the rooftop gargoyles were gilded as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations.

The reconstructed castle 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.