Similar to the more famous Osaka castle, during its heyday the Okayama castle was renowned for its golden roof decorations. Besides the shachi (roof ornaments in the form of a mythical ocean fish) some of the gatou roof tiles were inlay with gold.

The castle was destroyed by the WWII bombings and in 1966, when it was rebuilt, the golden decorations were skipped over. However, in 1996, at the 400th anniversary, the gilded roof tiles were added again and the castle regained some of the old splendor that earned its nickname Kin U-jo, meaning the “Golden Crow Castle".

Okayama Castle, Main Tower, Okayama

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