Himeji Castle

This was the second time for me to visit Himeji Castle. The first was back in Summer with Mika's parents for a quick stop on the way home from a Weekend away in Okayama. We only stayed for about 20mins at night but the castle was lit up so well worth the stop. We had planned to visit in Autumn but went to so many other places just didn't fit it in so here we are in January and we finally made it back.

You can see the castle pretty much straight out of the train station and is about a 10min walk from the station. It's perched up high above the city and is a grand sight from any direction. Also known as the "white heron" because of it's white walls and graceful demeanour. It is one of four castles in Japan that is a world heritage site and unlike most European castles of the same era, Himeji is predominately built with timber. 360 tonnes of timber and 75,000 tiles were used for it's construction.

as with all post, click on the image to see a bigger photo or go to my flickr site to see a few more www.flickr.com/photos/brettinjapan

a wide view taken from the front plain.

me and mika inside the castle grounds.

this is my favourite picture of the castle. This view point just
fit my 50mm prime perfectly so i couldn't stop taking photos. I
think i deleted about 100 photos when we got home.

some old guns inside the castle.

these holes or hatches were everywhere around the castle. Some
were bigger than others and were used to throw stones, spears
and boiling water onto enemies. Might be useful back in OZ for the JW
doorknockers.

this the princesses quarters. It was huge. I can't remember exactly
home many tatami mats but it was very big. Here they are playing a
memory game with shells that we usually play with cards.

the top of the castle. This is where the princess would do her
daily prayers along with the lord of the castle.