The Japanese castles were built with the castle keep (tenshu or tenshukaku) protected by several layers of surrounding walls. The innermost space, that included the tenshu and several other buildings, was called honmaru. Unfortunately, even for most of the the 12 surviving Japanese castles, the only construction that still exists is the tenshu.

A fortunate exception is the Kochi Castle, where all the buildings are still in their original form. Even the walls and the gates were preserved, like the gate photographed here, Kuroganemon, which was declared as Important Cultural Property.

Kochi castle, Kuroganemon, Kochi

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Japanese companies, Sukiya