Constructed: 1346
Himeji Castle (姫 路 城) is a Japanese castle located
in the coastal city of Himeji in Hyōgo prefecture (former district
of Shikito in Harima province), about 47 km west of Kobe. It is one
of the oldest structures in medieval Japan that still survives in
good condition. It was designated as a World Heritage Site by Unesco
in 1993, it is also a special historical site of Japan and a
National Treasure. Together with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto
Castle, it is one of the "Three Famous Castles" of Japan, and is the
most visited in the country. It is sometimes known as Hakuro-jō or
Shirasagi-jō ("Castle of the White Heron") due to the bright white
color of its exterior.
Himeji castle appears frequently in the Japanese television, like scene
of films and fiction series, because the Edo Castle in Tokyo at the
moment does not own a main tower similar to which it has the Castle
Himeji. It is a point of reference used inside the city of
Himeji, since being located the castle on a hill, can be seen
from great part of the city.
The first buildings of the castle were built at the beginning of the
Muromachi period in 1346. The architect is Akamatsu Sadanori, who had
previously built the Shomyoji Temple at the foot of Mount Himeji, on the
site of which the castle complex was now built.
The largest
expansion, which is often referred to as the actual construction of
Himeji-jō, took place in 1580 when Toyotomi Hideyoshi took over the
castle and had three-story castle towers built.
After the Battle
of Sekigahara, the castle fell to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who shortly
thereafter ceded it to Ikeda Terumasa. During an eight-year construction
period from 1601 to 1609, he extended the complex to its current form
with typical elements from the Momoyama period. He also built the
five-storey main building (天守閣, tenshukaku). The last major expansion of
the castle dates back to 1618.
The actual residence was
demolished after 1868, but the fortifications around the impressive
tenshukaku, which was never intended for living, have been preserved.
Ikeda was followed by:
Honda (1617–1639)
Okudaira (1639–1648)
Matsudaira (1648–1649)
Sakakibara (1648–1667)
Matsudaira
(1667–1684)
Sakakibara (1684–1704)
Honda (1704-1741)
Matsudaira
(1741–1749)
Sakai (1749–1868) with an income of 155,000 koku.
At the end of World War II, Himeji-jō was bombed, but survived this
almost undamaged.
Himeji-jō has served as a film set for
internationally renowned productions several times: In the film James
Bond 007 - You Only Live Twice (1967) it was shown as the headquarters
of the Japanese secret police, in 1980 the castle served in the film of
the same name based on James Clavell's novel Shogun TV series to replace
Osaka Castle. A significant portion of Japanese director Akira
Kurosawa's film Ran (1985) is set there, and scenes from the samurai
epic Last Samurai (2003) were also filmed there.
Himeji Castle is a typical example of a Japanese castle, which
contains many of the architectural and defensive structures found in
this type of construction. The high stone foundations, the very white
walls, the organization and layout of the buildings within the complex,
are standard elements of every typical Japanese castle, as are the
artillery emplacements and the holes for throwing stones at the enemy.
The keep, the central structure of the complex, was built between 1601
and 1609.
The most important defensive structure of Himeji
Castle, and perhaps the most famous, is made up of the maze of narrow
streets that leads to the central keep. The access gates, the ramparts,
and the outer walls were built in order to lead the enemy forces who
wanted to approach the castle in a spiral path, with numerous dead ends,
which allowed the defenders to keep the enemies under constant fire.
assailants. The castle, however, has never been attacked in this way, so
the defense system could not prove its effectiveness.
The tiles
of the buildings and of the main body are fixed with stucco and in the
front parts they have the coats of arms of the alternating families.
The windows have grates to prevent enemy arrows from entering, and
they are also decorated with black lacquer and gold leaves to prevent
the flames from spreading. This system was also used in Zen temples and
being a precious workmanship it denotes a high status of the building.
The openings on the enclosure walls called Sama allowed the soldiers
to defend the castle by shooting arrows or using firearms. Hence the
different shapes: round, triangular and square for firearms, rectangular
for bows and arrows.
The levels
The building rises for five
floors even if two underground floors must also be considered in the
calculation:
On the fifth floor, windows were planned but they were
bricked up. Here is a small shrine with the kami of the castle at the
highest point.
On the fourth floor you can see the central pillar
that supports the structure of the castle, it is 25 meters long with a
diameter of 95 cm. To contain the entire height, the pillars are two
superimposed and joined by a joint. The central pillar has supported the
castle for 400 years.
On the third floor there are high windows to
let out the fumes in case of attack, the same ones were reachable by
stairs to face the enemy.
On the second floor there are several
hideouts for ambushes, plus there are other rooms for storing weapons
The weapons were stored on the first floor, in fact there are hooks.
On the ground floor, stones could be thrown at any stones.
On the -1
floor there is a sort of container for collecting water plus various
services.
Parts of the castle
Hishi Gate (Hishi-no-Mon) is the
gateway to the castle whose windows are decorated with black lacquer and
gold leaf motifs.
Between the various walls there is also a moat
(Sangoku-Bori) which limited the possibility of enemy attacks.
Along the access slope to the castle there is one of the walls called
Ogi-no-Kobai whose corner has a curved shape similar to a fan, hence the
name "Slope of the fan"
Bizen-Mon gateway to the Bizen-Maru,
reinforced with iron plates.