Dai-Tenshu, Sho-Tenshu, and Uto Turret
This spot provides a view of the three principal structures of Kumamoto Castle: Uto Turret on the left, the Sho-Tenshu (small keep) in the middle, and the Dai-Tenshu (main keep) on the right. While Uto Turret is the original structure from the early seventeenth century, the two castle keeps are replicas built in 1960. They replaced the original buildings that burned down just before the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, the samurai uprising against the Meiji government. In addition to obvious differences in size, the three structures are distinguished by their varying roof gables. The top story of the Dai-Tenshu main keep has ornate gables with an undulating curve above the oriel windows. The gentle downward curvature of the gables on both keeps contrasts with the gentle upward curvature of the gables of Uto Turret. A long, low building known as a tsuzuki-yagura (adjoining turret), which once ran north-to-south along the wall, collapsed in the 2016 earthquake.