Okayama in Autumn: Three Days of Castles, from the Black Crow to the Castle That Floats on Clouds

Japon, fin novembre

Between Kyoto and Hiroshima, Okayama Prefecture is often passed through at 300 km/h without a single stop. Yet it is here that, over three days and without a car, you can see four very different faces of the Japanese castle: a black keep rebuilt on the bank of a river, a plains fortress that Toyotomi Hideyoshi flooded beneath an artificial lake, one of the country's twelve original keeps perched at 430 metres, and the terraced stone walls of a stronghold levelled in the Meiji era. In late November the calendar lends itself particularly well: Kōraku-en opens at night from 20 to 29 November 2026, Tsuyama Castle illuminates its maples until 23 November, and the cold, clear mornings of this period are the most favourable for seas of clouds around Bitchū Matsuyama. Our notebook follows a departure on Friday 20 November, to make the most of the four days when everything overlaps.