Himeji Castle
Himeji Castle is known as White Heron Castle due to its elegant, white appearance, is most spectacular castle in Japan for its design, size and beauty and its well preserved castle. Himeji castle is considered a national treasure and a world heritage site. Unlike many other castles in Japan, it was never destroyed by wars and disasters such as earthquake or fire. The castle underwent intensive renovation for the past few years before it re-opened to the public in 2015.
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| Sakuramon Bridge |
Walking from the railway station along Otemae Street, we finally arrived. Sakuramon Bridge is the only passageway that leads to the main gate of Himeji Castle. The timber bridge was the first stop for tourists who wanted to take photographs of the white castle from a distance.The bridge is small and simple, but it offers an amazing view of Himeji Castle sitting above the stone walls of the moat. The water was exceptionally beautiful and blue in the morning.
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| Himeji Castle |
Admission fees are 1000 yen and 300 yen for adults and child respectively. Opening hours is between 8:30am to 5pm and last entry is 4pm. This tour takes approximately 1 to 2 hours. Visitors on wheelchair and babies in the strollers cannot visit Himeji Castle due to steep walkways and narrow staircase in the castle. People with poor health like heart and respiratory diseases are advisable not to visit Himeji Castle because of multiple staircases, steps and steep pathways.
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| Crowd Moving Through Main Gate To Visit Himeji Castle |
Himeji Castle contains advanced defensive systems in the shape of circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles are located throughout Himeji Castle. One of the castle's most important defensive elements is the confusing maze of paths leading to the castle's keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to confuse an approaching force, causing it to travel in a spiral pattern around the complex on its way to the keep. The castle walkways even turn back on themselves, greatly inhibiting navigation. The passages are also steep and narrow, further inhibiting entry. This system allowed the intruders to be watched and fired upon from the keep during their lengthy approach, but Himeji Castle was never attacked in this manner.
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| Himeji Castle |
Visitors enter the main keep through an entrance in the lower floor of the building and climb upwards via a series of steep, narrow staircases. Each level gets progressively smaller as you ascend. The floors are generally unfurnished and display just a few multilingual signs explaining architectural features such as portholes, rock chutes and concealed spaces as well as renovation efforts made over the years to preserve the structure.
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| Exit Route Of Himeji Castle |
We left the castle via another route, which is different from the entrance. Walking down from the top of the castle is faster than getting into the castle due to confusing maze of walkway as advanced defensive system.
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| Himeji Castle |
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