We expect Hikone Castle to be nominated in 2027, it has already requested a preliminary assessment. It is one of the few items left on Japan’s Tentative List, where it has lingered since 1992. At the moment of writing, it has a perfect 100% recommendation score by our community members. So my hopes were up for my visit, also because I hadn’t been to a classical Japanese site during this trip yet.

At the ticket counter, it’s worth it to get the most extensive ticket, that covers palace museum, castle and gardens. It is the combination of these 3 elements that gives Hikone-Jo an edge over similar Japanese castles. You cannot see the iconic donjon from afar (at least not when approaching from the train station), but what you will notice is the extent of the fortifications. There are two moats, still filled with water. Walls are steep and gates are strategically placed. 

The palace museum starts with a few exhibition rooms (one with fine samurai armor). It then transforms into a reconstruction of the palace as it would have been when the daimyo (feudal lord, from the hereditary Li clan) lived here. It’s an endless series of tatami rooms, which resemble those countless rooms in European palaces. From his living quarters, he could sit and contemplate looking out over a picture-perfect little garden (see lower photo).

A steep uphill walk then follows to the donjon (castle keep) and the main towers. The interior of the donjon cannot be visited at the moment because of renovations, but fortunately, the exterior was intact in all its splendour (see main site photo). You may enter the three-storey watch tower at the back of the castle grounds and climb to the top.

Finally, the gardens are probably the highlight of the site. There are two here (plus the one attached to the palace) and they were meant as pleasure gardens for the feudal lords and their guests. They are large, sometimes almost looking like English landscape gardens with ponds and trees (it actually was modelled after a Chinese palace garden). I visited late in the morning and was unlucky with the position of the blazing sun, but there must be so many beautiful views to enjoy while strolling around. 

I spent 2 hours in total at the site, and it got me thinking that for me there is a minimum amount of time that makes a (future) WHS worthy. A WHS somehow has to be grandiose: not especially in size, but mostly in the amount of imagination and creativity that has gone into it – above and beyond what others have done before. Hikone Castle surely fits that bill.