Greetings.
I am a man in a suit who has fallen into the world of Minecraft.
The castle entrance now feels complete, but the keep rising behind it is still only an exterior shell, without an entrance or interior stairs.
This time, I finish its southern side and build five usable floors, creating a route from the main street all the way to the lookout at the top.
Giving the Empty Castle Keep an Entrance
I begin at the main gate, looking up at the keep that will be the focus of this project.
The path completed last time is about to continue all the way to that top floor.
After passing through the main gate, however, I find only a blank white wall.
The wall-top route reaches the keep, but there is still no proper way inside.
Looking into the first floor through another opening reveals an empty shell.
There are no rooms or stairs, just a large unused space beneath the castle-like exterior.
From the southern side, I can also see that the second floor is open to the outside, with no wall at all.
I will first complete this missing half and give all five floors a usable structure.
The southern end of the first floor is filled with solid stone where the room should continue.
To turn it into an entrance and interior space, I take out my pickaxe and begin digging.
Once the stone is gone, the first-floor room extends across the southern side.
I build white walls and posts to match the north side, then continue the ceiling and eaves around them.
A pair of doors now opens in the wall facing the main gate, with a small entrance step beneath them.
At last, I can walk straight from the castle entrance into the keep.
Making an Armory Below and a Tatami Hall Above
Inside the entrance, a floor of packed mud forms an earthen hall.
A heavy central pillar and beams anchor the room, while stairs rise toward the second floor on the right.
The north wall becomes an armory.
Two sets of armor stand beside a displayed sword, bow, and shield, making the room feel ready to defend the castle.
Two chests sit beside the earthen floor, looking like traditional storage trunks.
They can hold weapons and building materials, so the first floor is useful as well as decorative.
Overhead, lanterns hang from chains beneath dark oak beams.
A lattice panel adds another detail, helping the large room feel much more finished.
A straight staircase two blocks wide connects the first and second floors.
I open the ceiling above it and add railings around the upper landing for a safer climb.
The second floor becomes a hall with moss carpet standing in for tatami mats.
A low table and cushions sit among lattice windows on all four sides, creating a calm room filled with daylight.
I also add a door between the upper gatehouse and the keep’s second floor.
The route from the main gate and the route along the castle wall now meet inside the keep.
Climbing Past the Formal Room and Wall Passage
On the third floor, I create a castle-inspired formal room.
A red carpet marks the honored area, while a red hanging scroll and bamboo decorate the alcove behind it.
The fourth floor is inspired by a *musha-bashiri*, a narrow passage running beside lattice windows on every side.
Beams and a hanging lantern bring a little castle atmosphere to the tight walkway around the stairs.
Outside, the completed southern wall now sits beneath all five layered gables.
The keep still has its familiar silhouette, but the rooms and paths inside give it a new sense of depth.
Walking from the Main Street to the Lookout Floor
With construction complete, I test the whole route from the main street to the fifth floor.
I pass through the outer gate, masugata, and main gate before opening the keep’s double doors.
I cross the armory and climb the first staircase.
From the second-floor hall, the next flights lead through the third and fourth floors in turn.
At the top of the final staircase, I reach the fifth floor!
The keep is now fully walkable from the main street, through every room, and all the way to its highest interior floor.
The fifth floor is a small lookout room with several window sections left open.
A central hanging lantern and smaller standing lights brighten the room without blocking the views outside.
Through the east window, I can see fields and the river beyond the castle.
I have crossed that landscape many times at ground level, but it feels much farther away from up here.
At night, I look back at the keep from the Inui Yagura and see light in its windows on every floor.
Rooms and walkable paths have filled the once-dark shell, adding another warm sight to the castle skyline.
One final picture inside the completed first-floor armory.
The entrance, earthen hall, armory, tatami hall, formal room, wall passage, and lookout now connect all five floors into one castle keep.
Being able to enter a building I once viewed only from outside and climb all the way to the top is wonderfully satisfying.
I will look out from the new lookout and think about what the castle needs next.
That is all for this time.
Greetings.