備中松山城（高梁城）

Bitchu-Matsuyama Castle (also called Takahashi Castle), perched atop 430-meter Mt. Gagyu, is the highest-elevation surviving castle tower in Japan. Built in 1239, it witnessed fierce Sengoku-era battles for control of Bitchu Province. The current extant two-story tower was renovated by Mizutani Katsumune in 1683 and is an Important Cultural Property. The castle is world-famous for its 'sea of clouds' spectacle in autumn mornings, when the tower appears to float above mist filling the Takahashi basin — earning it the nickname 'Castle in the Sky.' The Edo-period Confucian reformer Yamada Hokoku served the Itakura clan here.