Himeji Castle is one of the most important historic building in Japan. It was build in 16th century as a fortress of the feudal load and has preserved its original form for 400 years. The features of the castle are the beautiful white wall and ornamental design of architectures which give it the nickname of elegant bird, white heron.
See the castle under restoration
The five-year restoration project has started in 2010. They replace the roof tiles and re-plastering the walls. The main building, donjon is completely covered with scaffolding and close the door to visitors. Instead, they use the scaffolding as a restoration-viewing facility and allow visitors go up 50-meter-high on the deck by the elevator and look closely at the donjon’s outer wall and carpenters working on them.
It’s open from 9 am to 4 pm. You must pay 400 yen to enter the castle ground and see some sub-buildings and the garden. Another 200 yen is collected to see the donjon being restored. Visit http://www.himejijo-syuri.jp/en/index.html for more information.
About the Castle
During the Sengoku warring period in 16th century and subsequent Edo period in 17th century, warlords had their castles as a military and governing center of the province and as their residence. Therefor, the castles in Japan generally were designed with the purposes of defense from enemies and showing off the load’s status as well.
As time went, the number of castles was reduced by the Tokugawa government due to the administrative reason. After the samurai period, castles became useless and destroyed, but some were still used as a military base of the Japanese modern army and then bombed by the U.S. in the last war. As a result, there are only twelve castles today remaining in the form of the medieval era. Himeji castle is among them and the best example of Japanese castle.
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