This morning I visited Himeji Castle and the neighboring Koko-en (Japanese Garden). It's about a 10 minute bike ride from the Shirasagi Residence, which is pretty cool.
I was given a very awesome tour by two locals: Toshi and Keiko! They were very cool! Toshi had a lot of information about the defensive mechanisms behind this castle, which are supposed to make it impregnable. Since it was never invaded (none of the Japanese ever had the courage to try!), it's hard to say how well this castle would have stood in an actual invasion. Personally, I wouldn't want to try and besiege this castle, either; it's design is that impressive!
Fun fact: this castle survived a bombing during WWII, the only time it's defenses have ever been tried.
Anyway, on to the best part, the photos! I'll explain aspects of some of them along the way!
This is the view from the main gate, looking at the Inner Moat. There are three moats surrounding Himeji Castle, but this is the only one left intact. The second moat would have been along the main street, and the third moat would reach out all the way to the trains station. In other words: the original castle grounds were massive.
This is a map showing the original layout of the castle grounds. Some of those buildings are no longer there.
The main tower of the castle is currently under renovation. They've been re-roofing and re-plastering it. It's scheduled to be open again by March 2015, though the scaffolding will slowly start to be taken down starting in December 2013.
Can you see the face in the left wall? In Feudal Japan, they believed that inside of large rocks and trees resided spirits. So this rock face is supposed to protect the castle.
Here's a closeup of some of the roof tiles. They are all engraved with the symbols of the various lords who once resided in Himeji Castle. I believe there were about 32 different lords living here in one time.
Here's the view of the city from the 8th floor of the scaffolding. The second moat would be along the street you see going left and right. The tall building at the end of the long straight street (the main street) is JR Station, which marks the edge of where the third moat once was.
This is the view from inside the scaffolding, looking at the roof of the main tower. They're nearly done renovating it! But tearing this scaffolding down is a process that will take well over a year to accomplish, since it must be done so carefully!
See those rectangle slats? They're for dropping hot water down onto enemies' heads. No oil-and-pitch here, this castle is made entirely of wood.
There were a few lingering cherry trees in bloom, so I snapped this photo! I'm very proud of it!
The walls are embedded with four kinds of "holes" in them: squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles. This allows the castle defenders to shoot down onto the enemies below.
These plants are a kind of lily, which bloom in June. Originally, the castle had no walking paths, and these lilies covered the grounds. They are very slippery, and have weak root systems, which help to trip up enemy samurai, which would be wearing heavy armor. We talked a lot about "functional beauty" in the design of this castle.
The center tile has a unique engraving compared with the rest of the castle: it features a Christian Cross. This shows some of the influence Christianity had on Feudal Japan.
This last building is the castle that Princess Sen lived in. She is a very famous Princess here in Himeji, and she has a pretty cool love story, too!
And now for photos of the Koko-en, or Japanese Garden. My camera unfortunately ran out of batteries when I worked my way through the first of the gardens (there were 9 in total). I'll definitely visit again sometime, perhaps in spring, so that I can photograph the other 8 gardens!
There was a lot of similarity with the Japanese Friendship Garden in Phoenix, which is now open. Once the weather cools off, I suggest visiting there and pretending that you're in Japan! :)
In the meanwhile, Pokemon X is calling my name. I won't lie: quite a few of us ALT's are playing the new Pokemon Games. And my students are already planning trades with me. Being nerdy is way cooler here in Japan!
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