Photo by May Suen.

Kumamoto Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle. The castle keep is a concrete reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the original castle. Originally burned down in 1877 by the imperial government during the Satsuma rebellion which was a revolt of disaffected samurai against the new imperial government, nine years into the Meiji Era. On April 14, 2016, the castle and grounds were heavily damaged by a series of strong earthquakes. It will take decades to restore the castle.