The only surviving turret of Fukuyama Castle

The beautiful castle turret (yagura in Japanese) in today's photo managed to escape the destruction of not one, but two castles... Originally the yagura was built as part of the Fushimi Castle in Kyoto (hence its current name "Fushimi Yagura"). But after the castle was demolished by order of the Tokugawa shogun, the turret was dismantled and relocated here, in Fukuyama, becoming part of the newly constructed castle.

The Fukuyama Castle managed to survive to the great demolition of castles that took place during the Meiji Restoration, but 77 years later most of its buildings were destroyed by the WWII bombings. However, the Fushimi Yagura remained intact. With its three stories and a total height of 15 meters, this beautiful turret is even larger than the main keep of other castles...