Location: Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture.
Brief History:
Originally built in 1346. Reconstructed by Hideyoshi
Toyotomi in 1580. The most of the remaining buildings were completed by
1609.
The buildings designated as National Treasures:
The donjon, 3 keeps, and 4 corridors.
The buildings designated as Important Cultural
Assets:
11 corridors, 16 turrets, 15 gates, and 32 earthen walls.
The Donjon: 33 m (108 ft) in height; 5-layer
appearance, 7-storied structure inside.
The Moat: Maximum width 34.5m (113 ft), average
20m (66 ft). Depth about 2.7m (8.9 ft).
World Heritage Registration: December 1993.
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"White Heron", the Surviving 17th-century
Monument
 The buildings of Himeji Castle maintain the historical
composition of an early 17th century castle complex, and their design is
of outstanding artistic value. Most of the more than 80 buildings including
the donjon (the Dai-Tenshu) complex were constructed between 1601 and 1609.
Because of its elegant appearance unified by the white plastered earthen
walls, the castle is admiringly called "Shirasagi-jo" (White Heron Castle).
The entire castle structure was repaired over a period of 30 years between
1934 and 1964. In 1993, the Castle was registered on UNESCO's World Heritage
list.
The castle grounds are divided into an inner walled zone
and a outer walled zone surrounded by a double moat. The donjon complex
which forms the nucleus of the castle is situated at the highest location
in the center of the inner walled zone. Surrounding the donjon and the
three smaller keeps are structures used as watchtowers, gate buildings
and plastered earthen walls all positioned according to strategic defensive
planning considerations. The majestic donjon has five projecting roofs
on the exterior, but actually has six interior stories plus one basement.
For nearly 400 years, Himeji Castle has survived occasional
disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes. During the Great Hanshin Earthquake
in January 1995 which substantially affected the city of Himeji, some plaster
peeled off the corridor wall and some of the roof tiles of the fortified
earthen walls fell down, but the donjon survived almost unscathed. Even
the bottle of sake placed on the altar of the shrine at the top of the
donjon remained in place. This quake-resistance of the seventeenth-century
wooden buildings is remarkable.
Photo: The Himeji Castle (Hyogo Prefecture).
Unauthorized reproduction of the
photos in this page is prohibited.
Related Links:
Hyogo
Prefecture
Himeji
City
The
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
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