Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle is the largest castle in Japan. It serves as an excellent example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, containing many of the defensive and architectural features associated with Japanese castles. The curved walls of Himeji Castle are sometimes said to resemble giant fans (扇子, sensu), but the principle materials used in the structures are stone and wood. Feudal family crests (紋, mon) are installed throughout the architecture of the building, signifying the various lords that inhabited the castle throughout its history.

                             A depiction of the intricate castle complex

                            The family crest of Ikeda Terumasa

The Himeji Castle complex is located in the center of Himeji, Hyōgo on top of a hill called Himeyama, which is 45.6 m (150 ft) above sea level. The castle complex comprises a network of 83 buildings such as storehouses, gates, corridors, and turrets (楼, yagura). Of these 83 buildings, 74 are designated as Important Cultural Assets: 11 corridors, 16 turrets, 15 gates, and 32 earthen walls. The highest walls in the castle complex have a height of 26 m . Joining the castle complex is Koko-en Garden (好古園,Kōkoen), a Japanese garden created in 1992 to commemorate Himeji city's 100th anniversary.

From east to west, the Himeji Castle complex has a length of 950 to 1,600 m (3,117 to 5,249 ft), and from north to south, it has a length of 900 to 1,700 m The castle complex has a circumference of 4,200 m (2.53 mi). It covers an area of 233 hectares (2,330,000 m² or 576 acres), making it roughly 50 times as large as the Tokyo Dome or 60 times as large as Koshien Stadium.

The castle keep (天守閣, tenshukaku) at the center of the complex is 46.4 m high, standing 92 m above sea level. Together with the keep, three smaller subsidiary towers (小天守, kotenshu) form a cluster of towers. Externally, the castle keep appears to have five floors, because the second and third floors from the top appear to be a single floor; however, the tower actually has six floors and a basement. The basement of the keep has an area of 385 m² , and the interior of the keep contains special facilities that are not seen in other castles, including lavatories, a drain board, and a kitchen corridor.

The keep has two pillars, with one standing in the east and one standing in the west. The east pillar, which has a base diameter of 97 cm (38 in), was originally a single fir tree, but it has since been mostly replaced. The base of the west pillar is 85 by 95 cm (33 by 37 in), and it is made of Japanese cypress. During the Shōwa Restoration (1956–1964) a Japanese cypress tree with a length of 26.4 m was brought down from the Kiso Mountains and replaced the old pillar. The tree was broken in this process, so another tree was brought down from Mount Kasagata, and the two trees were joined on　the third floor.

                                   ↑Himeji Castle of design

Himeji Castle, located in Himeji City, Hyogo Pref. is the typical example of medieval castle architecture in Japan. The castle together with Horyuji Temple was designated as the World Heritage in 1993 for the first case in Japan. The castle walls with plaster coating are really beautiful and as it appears as a white egret ready for flight, it is given the name of “White Egret Castle.” It is lit up in the evening. The castle was originally built by Hideyoshi Hashiba (later Toyotomi) as the bases for making an attack on Mori forces in Chugoku district. The original castle had three stories, but later after the Battle of Sekigahara, Terumasa Ikeda occupied the castle and reconstructed it. It took 9 years to complete the reconstruction. The main complex consists of one main donjon with five stories and seven floors and three secondary towers. The main donjon is connected by watariyagura (corridors and passages) to the other towers. The complex is well preserved as it was in the old days and still stands gallantly in the present time.
The castle court is filled with amazing color of 1,000 various cherry trees blooming in the spring; Yoshino cherry as well as weeping cherry and yamazakura in Nishinomaru Tower.