Kumamoto Castle MOC Exteriors

Update on 4/18/2000
I contacted Mr. Yasuyaki Oka and he has graciously allowed me to use his photos of
the orignal Kumamoto Castle beside the Kumamoto Castle MOC as a side by side
comparison.  The 3 pictures are listed below.

Kumam01-07 are long range shots
Kumamc01-15 are close up shots
Kumamp01-04 are people shots of the armies in the battle of Sekigahara

Kumam01 - castle front view
Kumam01a - Original Kumamoto castle front view (by Yasuyaki Oka)
Kumam02 - castle offset right view
Kumam03 - castle offset left view with army in front and Mount Fuji in distance
Kumam04 - castle view from left lengthwise
Kumam05 - castle back view, back left corner
Kumam05a - Original Kumamoto castle back view, back left corner (by Yasuyaki Oka)
Kumam06 - castle back view
Kumam06a - Original Kumamoto castle back view (by Yasuyaki Oka)
Kumam07 - castle back view, back left corner, upper view

Kumamc01 - close up 5 tier donjon, right view
Kumamc02 - close up 5 tier donjon, left side view
Kumamc03 - close up 5 tier donjon, tiers 2-5 and gables
Kumamc04 - close up 5 tier donjon, back view with stone throwing windows
Kumamc05 - close up 3 tier donjon, back view with barred windows tier 1
Kumamc06 - close up front 5 tier donjon, with army and doorway
Kumamc07 - close up corner 5 tier donjon. Corner slope work and concave joints
           Also mid-section roof overlap of 5 tier donjon roof tier 1.
Kumamc08 - close up front 3 tier donjon, observation area, marksmen window.
Kumamc09 - close up overlapping roof,gable to mid-section roof and mid to 3 tier donjon
Kumamc10 - close up gable to mid-section roof
Kumamc11 - close up stone-throwing windows (STW). tier 1 has 2, gable has 1, tier 3 has 2
Kumamc12 - close up barred windows with STW on both sides.  Note lamp holders in walls.
Kumamc13 - close up corner 3 tier donjon curved slope foundation.
Kumamc14 - close up 5 tier donjon, tier 4 & 5, gable integrated to roofs
Kumamc15 - close up 3 tier donjon back with large amounts of STW and marksmen windows

Kumamp01 - the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu gather at the foot of Mount Fuji
Kumamp02 - the calvary spearmen of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Kumamp03 - the army of Tokugawa Ieyasu and their leader
Kumamp04 - Toyotomi Hideyoshi was defeated by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the battle of Sekigahara.
           Tokugawa then started his shogunate in 1600.

Kumamoto Castle features
- Historically accurate double donjon castle called Kumamoto which is a 5 tier donjon 
  connected and integrated to a 3 tier donjon
- many Japanese fortification features from stone-throwing windows, barred/marksmen 
  windows, observation areas, etc.
- large and imposing.  It is 96 studs x 54 studs (30 inches x 17 inches) and stands 18.5
  inches tall and weighs about 21 pounds.
- building sets include the better part of five 6093 (FNFs), two 6089 (Stone Tower 
  Bridges), three 3053 (Emperor Strongholds), eight 6033 (Ninja Treasure Transports), 
  black and white bricks from two blue tubs, 4 large green baseplate, 1 large gray 
  baseplate, two red roof bricks from dacta 9265, two service packs black roof bricks 
  5216, and more black bricks from an ebay auction.

Funny thing is I started March 12, 2000 on this and it only took a month cause my blood
was up to finish this.  Very intense building sessions but very rewarding.