For the longest time I’ve been driving past this building and vowing to get a closer look. It has taken until now because it required getting off the expressway, and we were always on the way to Ultraman Land which well-and-truly trumps any ounce of curiosity I may have.

So, like I said, I’d always seen it from the expressway (here) and I just assumed it was a house. I mean, who wouldn’t want to live in a Japanese castle? And while it is rare, I’ve come across many a Japanese blog showing castle-like houses. Here’s one I actually went & visited: Yamato Koizumi Castle.

The compound

The way in is through a rather large car-park. I guess they get big crowds in on Sunday’s, or whenever it is that they meet. There appears to be only one gate into the compound, and it seemed odd to me that it isn’t wide enough for a vehicle.

If you take a look at this map, you’ll see four largish buildings between the “castle” and the expressway. There is just one other building of note, that being a small pagoda is the south-east corner. You can just see its roof in the photo below.

The cult

I actually saw The Cult live in Brisbane many years ago, but that has nothing to do with these folk. The cult that inhabits the buildings above is the Hachiraku Kaikyōdan (八楽会教団). I’m not sure what their go is, and I don’t wish to know.

I know they like castles, so they can’t be too bad.