WHS#77

Castles have never been my favorite kind of site to visit. As inherently military structures, they have a tendency to be squat and visually less appealing than other great monuments, as functionality is rightfully prioritized over artistic expression or cultural manifestation. Their use in military activity also means that they are rarely preserved as they were made, often interfering with their visual impact even worse. There's one place in the world that seems to consistently defy these characteristics of castles, and that's Japan. Japanese castles are famous for their graceful figures and tall keeps, but if you do your research, you'll find that only 12 of them are actually preserved since the preindustrial age. Most are in isolated areas in small cities, especially on the island of Shikoku, but there's one castle easily accessible from the Kansai metropolitan area, and it's the greatest of them all. This is Himeji-jo, the legendary White Heron Castle, and I was lucky enough to visit it en route from Hiroshima to Osaka in December 2019. Arriving on a Shinkansen, the castle is actually visible in the distance if you look in the right direction. There are lockers to store your luggage if you're on a route like mine, but they're pretty expensive, costing 700 yen if you have an especially large suitcase. In hindsight, it would've been cheaper, but also much less convenient, to store the luggage at the castle lockers, which cost half the price. Anyway, the castle is about a kilometer of straight walking through the modern city of Himeji. You'll know you're near when you see the old stone walls on each side of the street. This is actually the start of the WHS core zone, but you'll want to go farther to where the street stops to see what actually remains of the castle.

You may think of Himeji-jo as that beautiful white tower, but the castle is much bigger than that. While the outer walls have become part of the once rapidly growing city, the middle layer with its moat and imposing Otemon Gate form the modern boundaries of the castle, and it's as if that was always the case. Here, the eponymous herons wade in the water alongside huge koi, while crows fly overhead. The white keep just peeks over the cold stone walls. It's a startling scene, but entering through the gate gives way to an even more startling scene. Here, the castle rises majestically over an empty field, the Sannomaru, apparently the site of a past palace. There's also a zoo here, who knew? Sigh. The gardens within the walls are all really pleasant, at least, but I continue to the ticket counter. Entrance is 1000 yen, very much on the expensive side, but I was lucky enough to avail of the student discount, which granted me entrance for only 300 yen. I ended up getting a combo ticket for Kokoen since it's just 50 or 60 yen more. This is where the fun starts! I go up the ramp, through the big white Hishinomon Gate, and come up to another great view of the main keep across the Sangokubori Moat. Seriously, get used to the great views of the keep; you'll find them on every step. From here, I went up the next ramp, guarded by the foundation stone of the gate that used to stand there, up to the West Bailey. Here, you can enter the "Long Connecting Corridor," which is indeed, a long connecting corridor along the outward wall of the castle. It's a great place to see the few displays about how the castle was built and maintained, as well as to have a good look into the life of the elite back in the day. The corridor ends in the Cosmetic Tower, where the princess would rest. There are also a few steep stairways, which makes this a good preview of what's to come when exploring the main keep. Also, you have to carry your shoes around.

Through a few more gates and ramps, and walls lined with oblong, round, triangular, and square sama (holes used to shoot arrows and bullets), I finally came to the main keep. Here's where the experience really kicked in for me. Looking up at the beautiful tower up close, I felt like I was looking up at a mountain peak. I had the sudden determination to get to the top of it already. It was probably the most exciting moment I had during the trip, as adrenaline pumped through my blood, urging me to get to the top of this castle. The inside was as I expected - empty but full of interesting little details. I prefer this approach than the museums that more famous, more recently reconstructed castles as it preserves the rich authenticity of the castle is a military structure. Instead, visitors should admire the the interesting looking sink, the weapon racks, pretty nail covers, and the amazing views from the small windows. The interior is dimly lighted, since windows are small, but there's enough light to observe the little details. Of course, enjoy the steep climbs too. Each floor has something to offer, and each climb gets more tiring but exciting. When I finally reached the small top floor, with its shrine in the center and friendly Japanese official congratulating everyone for reaching the top, I could barely keep myself from hollering from the adrenaline release. Luckily, the views from up there were enough for me to shut my mouth and take as many pics as I could before going back down. If not for the tiny windows, there would be such a great 360-degree view, but I was happy with what I could see through the bars. After carefully descending through the 7 floors and the obligatory photoshoot in front of the keep, I went back down through a few more ramps, past a few more white buildings, huge stone walls, gates, and wells before finally arriving back at the moat and the ticketing office.

Kokoen is also part of this WHS, but it's only been around for less than a century. It's just outside the walls of today's castle, but it was once the site of a feudal lord's garden that the current garden has been modeled after. Both the old influence and the young age show as the garden does obviously make use of modern techniques while still maintaining an classic Japanese garden feel, especially with the main keep of Himeji-jo towering behind. It's worth the combo ticket, but I would give it a miss under time restraints. Despite the questionable uses that the land outside the inner walls has been given, I have to say that the paid area is immaculately preserved. There's no doubt the castle is worthy of its WHS status just by how extensive this little preserved area actually is, that it took me 2 hours to explore at a relatively fast pace. Exploring the other properties like the various walls, corridors, and gates just adds so much insight into feudal life in Japan to the experience. While I haven't been able to explore many other Japanese castle keeps, I don't even feel the need to after Himeji. Perhaps Matsumoto and Hikone castles would be great to add to the Japanese castle experience, but it seems that all the praise that Himeji gets is deserved. It's one of the most beautiful buildings in Japan, and personally, it's probably the most beautiful castle in the world. Whether it's the only castle that's deserving of WHS status is a question for another day, but by far, it's the most deserving, and that may be why it was one of the first WHS in Japan in 1993.