A day trip to Himeji from Nara was quite an excursion but it was due to our own bad planning, and we didn't want to miss this castle which is regarded as the "finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture". We started our second JR Pass (a 7 day model this time) a day early to cover the fare.
Himeji Castle, right up the main street from the JR Station.
Himeji's entry into the national drain cover competition (going since 1980's) is this one of white egrets, the symbol of the town and the castle.
Seen in total (as you can, even from the railway station), the castle is indescribably beautiful. It's white in colour, as distinct from Matsumoto's black, and is known as the "white egret" or "white heron" castle. Under a hazy blue sky, the whiteness of this huge complex of buildings takes on a unreal appearance. Himeji Castle featured in the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice".
Himeji Castle, the white egret, a magnificent spectacle.
The fee to enter is castle (JPY1000) is paid to an automated machine, like buying a train ticket, the first we have seen on everything we have visited this trip. They're ready for crowds at Himeji, and it was just comfortably busy on the day of our visit. This is the most visited castle in Japan, which must do wonders for the city's economy.
Himeji Castle is photogenic from every angle.
Like many attractions in Japan, Himeji Castle has an evolutionary history, but to cut a long story short, the first fort was built here atop Himeyama hill in 1333AD and it was still being added to in 1618AD.
Detail inside the castle outer defences showing a gate on the right, mud wall construction and two square loopholes.
As you cross the moat and pass through the first gate, you begin to appreciate how well Himeji Castle was designed for defence. It is a confusing complex of 83 buildings and the spiral paths and dozens of gates are deliberately designed to confuse attackers and entrap them in indefensible choke points. There are about a thousand sama (loopholes) in various configurations for archers to use on attackers without revealing themselves, and we saw many stone dropping chutes too.
Notice board showing the complexity of access paths up to the main bailey of Himeji Castle.
The only triple floored gate in the castle.
Perhaps the greatest defence measure is the "long corridor", essentially a long narrow building which circles much of the castle, and in peacetime was used by princesses and thei ladies in waiting. There is a sad story about Princess Sen who lived part of her life in the long corridor - she was married at age 7 in Osaka but her husband suicided. She had to be rescued from a fire which burnt out Osaka Castle. She remarried a Himeji lord at 20 but suffered more tragedy by losing her only son in infancy, and her second husband dying at an early age, a legal problem for her, apparently. She retreated to Edo, became a nun, and mourned her misfortune until she died at 70.
View of the long corridor from the west bailey.
The long corridor from inside.
Princess Sen in her rooms.
During WW2, Himeji city was heavily bombed, but the castle survived intact. Presumably the Americans thought or knew that the castle had no military purpose. This castle must be blessed, because in 1995AD, it also survived the Great Hanshin earthquake while the rest of the city was very seriously damaged. From 2009-2015AD, "the Showa Era Restoration" project took place, which is why the castle is such a treat today.
Shachi, such as this mounted example, look like a fish with the head of a tiger. They adorn ends and corners of rooflines, and provide protection.
Inside, Himeji Castle is much like any other in Japan. The main bailey is roughly pyramidal in shape, so the floor area gets smaller as you climb (with no shoes on, and slippers which seem to be designed to be difficult to keep on). Inside is dark with wooden floors and massive pillars (some original pillars are preserved on display). There are shuttered windows and more loopholes and stone drops, nooks and crannys for special purposes, armories and royal suites. On the top floor there's a shrine whose bell was getting a good workout from the visitors (throw your money in, ring the bell, clap once, bow deeply, clap twice). What Himeji does have is excellent interpretative signage in English.
Inside the castle at a lower level.
Is this a nook, or a cranny?
Shrine on the top floor of Himeji's main bailey.
These "original" pillars from Himeji Castle looked so dry that they would shatter under a sharp knock.
Really good interpretative signage, this one proves we got to the top floor on our perilous slippers.
Our day trip to Himeji involved shinkansens to and from Kyoto, and we were able to observe and enjoy these amazing trains at the stations at both ends. These bullet trains travel at around 300km/hr which you only appreciate when you see one going by at that speed at close quarters, such as at Himeji where many don't stop. They don't slow down either, but thunder through the station with a tremendous roar just one track away from the platform.
The speed of these trains is not the only amazing thing about them (as you dream of a fast train joining Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane!) but also, how do they manage so many on the same track at a time? Like regular trains in Japan, shinkansens have the equivalent of "local" trains which stop at all (shinkansen) stations, then a number of levels of expresses which stop at fewer and fewer stations. Timekeeping and speed maintenance must be immaculate so that the express trains can roar through in the few minutes that the stopping trains are at a station. We've seen examples where there is only 6 minutes between trains on one line, all doing positively scary speeds.
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