Himeji - White Egret Castle

Himeji Castle is one of the Three Famous Castles of Japan
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We caught the Shinkansen Hikari from Kyoto to Himeji on Monday morning. This was Day 1 of our 7 day JR rail pass. The reason for stopping here was to visit Himeji Castle (also known as White Egret Castle), one of the Three Famous Castles in Japan.

Himeji itself was a surprise packet and well worth a longer stay. It is a well planned city with wide avenues of trees and sculpture leading from the station to the castle. Apparently this route used to be within the castle walls as the JR station is just outside the outer moat.

The garden at Himeji Castle was young, small but very beautiful.
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The castle was excellent and made better with our English speaking guide. You simply ask at the office and if there is a guide available they take you around free of charge. We had Kenji who was interesting and enthusiastic. We took almost 3 hours to walk around.

Himeji castle is generally thought to be the most beautiful in Japan. This version of the castle was built in 1609 as a fort and fully rebuilt using traditional methods in the 1950's. The main tower hangs off two main posts cut from cypress trees 600-700 years old.

The slots where you could pour boiling water on your attackers.
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Himeji had openings in the walls for guns, arrows and rocks or boiling water to be poured on approaching attackers. The openings are of different shapes depending on the use(triangles, circles and rectangles). Himeji also had slots (for pouring boiling water) with decorative covers at the corners of each building. One of Himeji's most important defensive elements, and perhaps its most famous, is the confusing maze of paths leading to the main keep which are organised so that an approaching force has to travel in a spiral around the castle, facing many dead ends. Kenji was keen to point out the traps and how the intruders would have been killed but the castle was never attacked so who knows if it would have worked.

After leaving the castle we had some ramen and walked next door to the castle garden (Koko-en) which was only established in 1992 on the site of the Lord's West Residence (Nishi Oyashiki). This is a small garden with 9 different garden rooms. They used the garden techniques from the Edo period as a model. Admission is only 300 yen. One of my favourite gardens.

We walked back to the JR station in the afternoon and caught the Shinkansen to Hiroshima.