S P O T ／ SPOT-369

Katsuyama Castle Museum

勝山城博物館かつやまじょうはくぶつかん

Rising abruptly from the rice paddies of rural Fukui, this blinding-white castle keep is the tallest tenshu-style structure in Japan — 57.8 meters from stone base to golden ridge ornaments. It looks, from a distance, like a lost feudal fortress. It is not. No castle keep ever stood here in history; the medieval Katsuyama Castle had only a keep platform, never a tower, and its site has vanished. This gleaming five-tiered, six-story reinforced-concrete replica of Himeji Castle's keep was instead the private passion project of Tada Kiyoshi, a local boy who founded the Sōgo Taxi company and wanted to give his hometown 'a new face.' He poured his own fortune into it over three years and died in 1991, a year before it opened in 1992 as a registered museum housing daimyō armor, battle screens and Qing-dynasty embroidery. Look at the stone base and you'll find the giveaway that this is no ordinary castle: nine dragons carved in relief, honoring the Kuzuryū (Nine-Headed Dragon) River and the dinosaur fossils for which Katsuyama is famous. It is one of Japan's great mock keeps — a photograph of it raises the question 'why is there a giant castle here?' before you've read a single caption.