Castles

These are pictures of some Castles in Japan(Osaka and Fukuoka). Castles have been a part of Japanese history for hundreds and hundreds of years. Castles began as wooden framed buildings and were normally based at the bottom of hills and surrounded by forests to prevent archers from hitting them from far distances. As weapons advanced stronger castles needed to be built. As you can see at the bottom of the picture of the Fukuoka castle there were many stones used in the structures of the castles. Not only on the castles themselves but on the many walls that surround the castles. Castles had many walls that ran similar to mazes to slow intruders, tire them out or confuse them(not all castles though). Walking up to the main tower of Fukuoka was not close to the outside gates and going through the valley like pathways with people attacking you from above would have been extremely difficult to gain access to the main tower. During 1575-1615 many castles like this were built. Japan was at war with itself and many clans were fighting for control.
Castles had many different parts to them. The most important was the main tower where the rulers would be. There were also places for soldiers and food storage.
As you can see in the picture of Osaka Castle there was a moat and the castle was far from the inner side of the moat. This is to make it harded of course for the enemy to reach the tower. If they were attacking on foot or with guns it was much safer and harder to damage from such a far distance. Castles all through Japan used the moat or sometimes a couple of moats. Now the second or outer moat would most likely be filled in because the space is needed for buildings and other things. At the time when these were being built though these castles were supposed to be the center of the city and easily entered if you were not an enemy but difficult if you were.
Now the castles around Japan are still used daily by many people. I met people at various castles that like to go there to meet people and talk about Japanese history and future. Some people give free tours about the castles as their hobbies. Japan should always keep these castles as a marker of their history. There are many great stories about these castles that definitely shaped Japan. Castles were not built so much after Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of Japan as the Shogun. He destroyed many also because he was unsure of who to trust and didn't want people to have a defense against him if he needed to get rid of them.
Castles now are mostly rebuilt because of the damage that has happened to them over the years. Osaka for example has been rebuilt at least two times.