Himeji is home to Japan’s most famous castle, Himeji-jo, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Himeji-jo is also known as the “White Heron Castle” because its white washed walls rise and stand out, making it easily seen for kilometers. Himeji-jo was originally built in 1331. The current design dates back to 1601 with the most recent renovations (completed using only traditional style tools, methods and materials) starting around 1956; the castle survived and was largely unharmed by bombings in WWII. Most of the original moat system is still in place, and there are nearly 100 buildings on the grounds related to the castle and its unique and intricate design.
We visited Himeji-jo as a half day side trip while staying in Kobe, which is only fourteen minutes away by shinkansen – bullet train. We were several minutes out of Himeji when the castle, sitting at the base of Mt. Himeji was first visible. With a perfectly clear November blue sky as its backdrop, the castle did in fact stand out, its white walls shinning in the sun, against the blueish green mountain backdrop. As you walk up the main boulevard up to the castle, it simply grows and grows. While the castle was never attacked, it was built with 33 wells, countless store houses, and a spiraling maze of paths that lead up to the main five storied structure. The white walls that line the maze are dotted with triangular, circular and rectangular holes, some with covers. These allowed for observation of the entire structure and the surrounding area (depending on how high up you are), as well as protected points of attacks for dropping rocks or shooting weapons.
As with many old wooden structures we have visited in Japan, it is mandatory to don slippers before entering. As you snake up and through the main castle structure, the stair cases become steeper and the head clearance lower. It is more accurate to say you crawl up the steps rather than climb or walk up them. The upper floors contain windows over vistas in every direction.
Our daughter thought the castle was cool too. There was the Ninja on the bridge over the moat. There were holes to look through. A maze and, well, its a castle…and she thinks she is a princess. She wanted to know why it was so dark. When we explained that it didn’t have electricity, she suggested someone should simply turn on the switch on…she was even willing to show them how it was done it someone would just point her to the switch. As the history of electricity was explained she turned to me and said, “They didn’t have electricity a long time ago. So dad, you didn’t have electricity when you were growing up?” After this comment I wanted to show her how the chutes worked that allowed them to drop rocks from the highest floors…but her mother was pretty sure that would be frowned upon. What can I say, I am old guy, you can’t expect all of my ideas to be sound.
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Depending on your means of transportation, the town of Himeji is fourteen to forty minutes south of Kobe. A Japan rail pass will allow you to take the speedy fourteen minute journey as well as the regular Japan Railways (JR) train which runs out a tad closer to the coast. The walk from the Himeji station to the castle is only about half a kilometer. If you have a four-hour window, you can easily zip up, walk through and grab a bite to eat. Its well worth the side trip.
Most everyone knows that the fastest and easiest way to get around Japan is by train, particularly the shinkansen or bullet trains. What you may not know, is that there are bullet trains and then there are bullet trains. This was a spur of the moment side trip for us. So when we were ready to return to Kobe, we had to purchase our train ticket back. Thanks to my wife’s phenomenal Japanese, we ended up with tickets on the Rail Star shinkansen going back to Kobe. The Rail Star is the newest line of shinkansens. The sleek design means that there are only two seats on each side of the aisle, so the ticket guy asked if we would like to have a cabin for four on our fourteen minute trip back so we could sit together. We didn’t know shinkansens had cabins. And since it was the same price, we, of course, said, “YES!” To Quote Ferris Bueller, “If you have the means, I highly recommend [it].”
Written November 30, 2007