Japanese Palace (城, 城郭, shiro or jōkaku?) is a large building that was built using wood and stone as the primary building materials, and designed as a center of defense when the enemy comes to attack. In times of war used as headquarters, a place to store funds for the war, as well as supplies such as food storage centers and ammunition. The palace is considered to be a place of residence of an important warlord, the central government and the collection of information about the situation of war. Just as in European castles, castles in Japan are generally built near the main road or on the edge of the river to ease transport and keep the areas that are considered strategic.
Kanji script for the palace is the shiro (城?) which read as Jō if preceded by the name of the palace, for example, in Japanese, read as Osaka Castle Osaka-jo.
