Himeji castle - Mon 9 Apr

The coin lockers at Himeji station were full, and I was lugging all my baggage, darn it. The information centre put it in their cupboard for me, and it was still there when I came back.

Had bad luck with my food lucky dip today, buying something from a shop that turned out to be compounded fish product. Ew. I gave it a good go, but only managed about three quarters.

The castle, the main attraction at Himeji and the most famous castle in Japan, had ring after outdoor garden ring of white walls protecting it, with blossoming cherry trees at full bloom everywhere.


The tour path traverses the maids' chambers, a dark solid corridor of wooden interior floor and walls, and all tour information was graciously provided on walls in several languages, unlike many other important historical sites in Japan I've visited so far.There was a climb up some really steep staircases with head-banger beams inside the castle. Everywhere, there were slots for firing weapons outward from triangular, circular and rectangular holes (as there were in all the external walls), hiding cupboards, and weapon racks. The upstairs was so packed, they temporarily turned the up staircase into another down staircase.



It had been spitting when I arrived at the tower, and was still raining lightly as I left. Fortunately, it stopped soon after - luckily, I didn't have to face another day of rain as I had in Nara. Outside the main tower, I saw a German tour group in the suicide area participating in a demonstration of harakiri, or ritual suicide by disembowelment.

A group of older Japanese gents had heard that the blossoms were at their peak, and had gathered to draw the castle at its best. This was the pick of the artwork.