The modern history books tell us the castle was destroyed in a 1945 air raid and rebuilt during the 1960s, but car was made to make it look like the original from outside while housing a modern museum on the inside.

The entry was expensive (800 yen) and the reality was there was not much inside, aside from the knowledge the teh jo was originally rather large – 35 turrest and 21 buildings (I seem to recall), however during the Meiji era the lord could no longer afford to own it, gave it to the government, who could not afford it either and so ripped down most of it. What was left, if it was as it stands, was not much and would not have given the real flavour of it. My advice to anyone going to Okayama is jsut view it from outside, you can go right up to the donjon for free, but don’t bother going in.