December 7, 2007 Day 06: Okayama Castle & Korakuen Garden
Okayama Castle is popularly known as Crow Castle, so named because, unlike most castles in the country, it has been painted a striking black, only a few protruding bits and the occasional lucky fish-gargoyle are gilded. Destroyed in WW2, the current version dates from 1966 with several modern conveniences including a elevator. Local legend has it that the Daimyo was so annoyed with all of the attention neighboring Himeji Castle was receiving, that he built his in black in spite.
The castle garden, Korakuen Garden, is one of Japan’s official Three Great Gardens and hence Okayama’s main attraction. The name means “Garden of Pleasure After”, a reference to a famous Confucian quote stating that a wise ruler must attend to his subjects’ needs first, and only then, attend to his own. The construction of this garden took 14 years beginning in 1687. Although minor changes were made over the years, Korakuen largely keeps its form from the Edo era. There is an extensive set of records documenting the history of the gardens.
The garden is known and respected for the “red-crested white cranes” kept in captivity here. There are only 61 such cranes in Japan and 8 of them are in Okayama. They are well cared for and are released for flying exhibitions in the park area on special occasions throughout the year.