Day 12 - Hemiji Castle

Today we took a day trip to Himeji to see the castle. This was our 3rd full day in Kyoto so it was good to get out of the city for a day. Himeji is a small (for Japan) coastal town about an hour from Kyoto. The castle is its main attraction and I must say, well worth the visit.

This was much more of a castle than the previous examples we have seen, they were more like administrative palaces, this was a place of power and defense. More like a european castle, it is built on a rocky outcrop that dominates surrounding landscape. Extensive massive walls and moats surround it, now put to gardens, they would have housed the shoguns close advisors and allies, the samurai classes. Further out beyond the inner moat would be merchants and artisan. The peasants would live outside the moat and walls that surrounded the whole town.

The main keep was a 5 storey wooden tower like a blocky pagoda, you were allow to climb this to the top and each floor contained exhibits from the shogunate that built and ruled from that castle. It is odd to westerners but you have to remove your shoes before entering the building (we carried them around in plastic bags provided). The benefits to the preservation became clear at the end when having put our shoes back on we could see the state of wear on a wooden staircase we had to climb down.

Truly old buildings see to be rare in Japan probably due to the fact that most are wooden construction and the risks from fire and earthquakes (not to mention dry rot) are high. Himeji castle was extensively reconstructed using traditional tools and techniques in the late 50s. However it still remains a facinating insight into the lives of Japans feudal lords.