Cherry blossoms at Maruoka Castle

From the 12 original surviving Japanese castles, after Hikone, Matsumoto and Inuyama, today I visited my 4th, the Maruoka Castle.

Built in 1576, Maruoka is the oldest Japanese castle tower (tenshu) from Japan. However, in 1948 the tower was destroyed by a powerful earthquake and it was identically rebuilt 7 years later, by using 80% original materials.

Surrounded by sakura, as you can see from the photo, the castle looks spectacular during this time of the year and the city is considered one of the 100 most beautiful cherry blossom cities in Japan...