Himeji Castle

Lore & Background

Himeji Castle dates to 1333 when Akamatsu Norimura built a fort on top of Himeyama hill. The fort was dismantled and rebuilt as Himeyama Castle in 1346 and then remodeled into Himeji Castle two centuries later. Himeji Castle was then significantly remodeled in 1581 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who added a three-story castle keep. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded the castle to Ikeda Terumasa for his help in the Battle of Sekigahara, and Ikeda completely rebuilt the castle from 1601 to 1609, expanding it into a large castle complex. Several buildings were later added to the castle complex by Honda Tadamasa from 1617 to 1618. For almost 700 years, Himeji Castle has remained intact, withstanding incidents such as the bombing of Himeji in World War II, and natural disasters, including the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake. The castle buildings underwent restoration work for several years and reopened to the public on March 27, 2015.

Reader's Guide

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, but the principal materials used in the structures are stone and wood. The specific style of the castle is a hirayama (flat hilltop). The Himeji Castle complex is located in the centre 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. 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 (85 ft). The main keep at the center of the complex is 46.4 m (152 ft) high, standing 92 m (302 ft) above sea level. Together with the main keep, three smaller subsidiary keeps form a cluster of towers. Externally, the keep appears to have five floors, but it actually has six floors and a basement. The basement of the main keep has an area of 385 m2 (4,140 ft2), and its interior contains special facilities that are not seen in other keeps, including lavatories, a drain board, and a kitchen corridor.

Did You Know?

• One firebomb was dropped on the top floor of the castle during World War II but failed to explode.
• During the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, even a bottle of sake placed on the altar at the top floor of the keep remained in place.
• The main keep has two pillars: the east pillar was originally a single fir tree, and the west pillar is made of Japanese cypress.
• The first floor of the main keep is often called the "thousand-mat room" because it has over 330 Tatami mats.