Osaka Castle and the white towers of Japan

Japanese castles are built in layers. At the bottom are massive sloping walls of fitted stone; on top stands the main tower, the tenshu, with white plaster walls and stacked, curving roofs. They were designed to impress as much as to defend, and they still look best from below, rising above moats and trees.

Osaka Castle was first built in the late 16th century under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warlord who unified much of Japan. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt more than once, and the main tower you see today is a 20th-century reconstruction, with a museum inside. Its stone walls are older and are a sight in their own right.

The first two photographs show the tower in two ways: alone against a clean blue sky, and set back above its walls and trees, which gives a better sense of scale. The third frame is another white castle above green woods. It is a good example of why these buildings photograph so well: bright plaster, dark roofs and a strong vertical shape that stands out against almost any background.

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Photos: nagi, webkims, hanshinlyon on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.