Visiting the Japanese castles, you will notice that there are many types of castle towers - yagura, varying in shape, size and destination. The vast majority were built with military purposes, as watchtowers, but there are also yagura built as astronomy towers or just to admire the landscape…

At the Hikone Castle you can admire a unique yagura style, a wide, symmetrical tower with a gate in the middle - a Tenbin Yagura (tenbin means “balance"). An interesting fact about this yagura, which was designated as an Important National Cultural Asset, is that the tower’s entrance is done through a wooden bridge, Roka-Bashi, which was designed to be easily destroyed in the case of an attack…

Tenbin Yagura, Hikone Castle, Hikone

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Old Japanese stories, Hozuki Ichi