I've picked up a couple books from the Japan Foundation Library (here in Toronto) that look interesting. The first book is 'Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty' by Jennifer Mitchelhill (Kodansha International Ltd, 2003). It has lots of lovely colour plates of various castles. Another interesting aspect of the book is in its appendices. It lists the mon (clan symbol), castle name, its Province and its income (in koku) for the Edo Period (1848 ). That info could be useful for a Japanese based RPG game.
The second book is called 'Japanese Castles' by Motoo Hinago, translated by William H. Coaldrake (Kodansha International Ltd, 1986). it has lots of useful history and even floorplans and side views of various castles. The colour plates are great to look at as well.
I think both of these books could be a useful resource for anyone interested in Japanese Castles. I also got a nice, big book called 'Minka: Traditional Houses of Rural Japan' by Chuji Kawashima, translated by Lynne E. Riggs (Kodansha International Ltd, 1986). It has many floorplans of traditional Japanese homes. I can see it inspiring a map or three from me.
Cheers,
Tim
Paratime Design Cartography
"Do infants have as much fun in infancy as adults do in adultery?" - Groucho Marx
This is exceptionally cool:
http://www.ajapanesecastle.com/
It's a real-time 3d interactive walkthrough of Matsumoto-jo castle. It requires Adobe Shockwave to view.
It was selected as a New Tech Demo at SIGGRAPH last year. A word from the author:
As far as my work is concerned, Matsumoto-jo will be the first in a series of online interactives on world cultural sites. In the near future, look for 3D interactives on the Maya, Rome’s Colosseum, Masada, Dun Aengus, and Alhambra.
Bryan Ray, visual effects artist
http://www.bryanray.name
Palladium Books also has a small book entitled Weapons and Castles of the Orient. My copy is 2nd edition from 1984. Pages 40 and 41 cover Himeji Castle in particular. Because of possible copyright issues, I won't post here. But I scanned in those two pages, and if you email me, I will send them to you (about 1meg for both jpg images). If you find them useful, you might check out the current edition (sells for $8.95USD, and I'm sure S/H is extra), though I don't know what changes they might have done to the book. Anyhow, replace the (at) with the usual symbol. You also might check books by David Macauley - he's done how-to books on building western castles, cathedrals, pyramids, etc. dannantavona(at)yahoo.com
"Wherever you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
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