Sister City Himeji and the Mystery of the Curvaceous Rooves

Two weeks without an update? Time to get my butt in gear and do something, instead of lounging around on my sister’s bed so long…

Where were we…? Ah yes, Himeji. The castle itself was covered up under a large scaffolding, with a picture imitating the structure hidden underneath. I did walk around the grounds though, and as I was standing inside the gate, I was approached and asked if I wanted an English guide. I accepted, and got a lovely older Japanese gentleman, who shuffled his way through the castle and told me all about the different aspects, the inhabitants and the history behind each feature on the grounds. A couple of times he almost fell over, especially when we were navigating steep staircases or sloping ground, but somehow we managed to make it through without any injuries. My free personal tour lasted about 2 and a half hours, so I definitely learned a lot (even though my guide tended to repeat himself quite a bit… but I mean… he was pretty old…)! Unfortunately, I also didn’t have much time to take photos, as my guide would move on pretty much as soon as he was done talking, and then just start talking again even though I was trying to take a picture and not standing next to him anymore. I was planning to go back through and take a few more photos once the tour was over, but 2 and a half hours later I was pretty knackered. Regardless, I managed to get a few, and these are some of the things I learned!

Himeji Castle from the street - all hidden behind scaffolding

Holes in the wall that soldiers would fire arrows through and (later) guns, for which they altered the shape of the holes to include triangles and rectangles etc, to accommodate for the shape of the guns

A monument to the man who singularly fought to keep Himeji castle, after the Emperor had decided to knock it down. At the time, speaking out against the Emperor was punishable by death, but the Emperor was so moved by the man's passion and bravery in expressing his opinion that Himeji Castle was saved

 

Another roof decoration

A building in the gardens built for "the beautiful Princess Sen and her handsome husband" to live in happily (Princess Sen had married down in class out of love, and was thus given a beautiful garden to enjoy in her new home at Himeji)

A view of the 500m long corridor surrounding the gardens, where ladies and their handservants lived

A monument to the only child shared by Princess Sen and her husband, who died when only a couple years old from pneumonia. It is said that not only do more tiers give the person status, but it helps the deceased ascend into heaven. The number 13 is also a very powerful number in Buddhism, so by having 13 tiers, they are trying to give their son the strongest chance in reaching heaven peacefully

My guide leading me through the long corridor (the shopping bag contains his shoes - we had to carry them through)

A hatch that the ladies living in the building would open and throw rocks through when the castle was being attacked

 One of the rooms the ladies stayed in (with a staircase leading upwards)

A model of Princess Sen and a handmaid playing a game. This was the only room that had tatami mats, which were at the time incredibly expensive and reserved for the extremely wealthy

An area that soldiers would man at night and make sure the castle wasn't being attacked

Some of the buildings in front of the actual castle proper

 A zigzagging route lead up to the castle, to make it difficult for enemies to know the fastest path to the castle. "The Japanese are very clever people," my guide informed me, before turning around with a cheeky grin and adding, "and you must remember, I am Japanese." I wasn't sure what to say to that.

Some of the different roof tiles emblazoned with different family crests

The Haunted Well of Okiku. Kiku was a maidservant at the castle who foiled the plans of one of the chief retainers, hoping to overthrow the lord. When his plot failed because of her, he blamed her for breaking one of the family dishes, and she was killed for it. Her body was thrown into this well, where it is said she could be heard every night. After she was enshrined as Okiku, it is said the voices stopped.

A blocked off tunnel leading to a place where samurai would ritually commit suicide

 The actual exterior of Himeji Castle during reconstruction. They strip it down completely and replaster it. As part of the tour during the reconstruction, we took a glass-walled elevator up to view the exterior of the castle.

The view from the top of Himeji Castle

The process of recreating the roof

The roof is created using two basic lines, the 'straight' which represents 'man', and the 'curved' which represents 'woman'. Apparently Himeji Castle is the only one where you can see both together, and represents the union and strength of man and woman together.

 Some more of the family crests that could be found around the castle

A curving wall and roof

When Hideyoshi presided over the castle, he was attempting to build many of the walls around, but was running short of rock. When an old housewife heard of this, she donated her only millstone, the source of her income, to Hideyoshi's cause. He was deeply moved by her concern and loyalty. It can be seen here, hidden under the mesh. Also, as I was repeatedly told, the rocks for Himeji Castle were sourced from all over Japan, some from the seaside, and some from deep mountains.

 Old slate roof tiles were reused for drainage systems

 Himeji Castle was fascinating and beautiful, and I will have to return one day to see it fully reconstructed and open to the public. It is also one of the few castles that stand as it did when it was first built. Most of the other ones have been burned down at least once, if not numerous times, due to fire from civil war or accident. It also escaped the bombing as the residents draped the castle in black netting to hide it from the planes during the war. Apparently the existance of this castle and its age might have also been a factor in Himeji not being chosen as the target for the A-bomb.