A Couple Hours in Okayama

We ended up in Okayama (岡山) for a couple of hours, which was just long enough to see both the Korakuen Garden (後楽園) and the adjacent Okayama Castle (岡山城).  Okayama is located between Hiroshima and Osaka, so it was convenient for us to stop in the city, on our way to the Kansai region. 

Korakuen Garden is ranked as one of the top three best landscape gardens in all of Japan, so it is obviously Okayama’s main attraction.  It was developed in 1687 for the local ruling family to host guests.  It wasn’t until a few hundred years later, that the garden was opened to the public. 

Korakuen Garden is exactly how I imagined a typical Japanese garden to be.  Within the garden, there are streams, walking paths, bridges, a pond, rice fields, and all sorts of trees, which would make it especially pretty during blossom season.  It is very spacious and I later found out that this is actually not common for gardens in Japan.

For more photos of Korakuen Garden, please see my Photo Gallery of Korakuen Garden.

 

Korakuen Garden
Address: 1-5 Korakuen, Kita Ward, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture
Phone: +81 86-272-1148

 

Within walking distance from the Korakuen Garden is the Okayama Castle, nicknamed the “crow castle” for its black exterior.  The original castle was destroyed during WWII, but was rebuilt in the 60s.  We didn’t get a chance to go inside, but we were thoroughly impressed with the black exterior of the castle, which made it stand out clearly.

Okayama Castle
Address: 2 Chome-3-1 Marunouchi, Kita Ward, Okayama, Okayama Prefecture
Phone: +81 86-225-2096