Himeji Castle (姫路城)

Information :

The most famous and beautiful castle in Japan, Himeji castle was inscripted a site of World heritage in 1994, and is one of four castles designated as the national treasure in Japan (one of the 12 existing main castles as well). Because of white walls coverded with white plaster, this castle has been called “White heron castle(Shirasagi castle)”. The height is about 46m. Himeji castle stands about 92m above sea level in that this castle was built on the top of Himeyama hill. Besides, this is one of the greatest wooden architectures in the world. Akamatsu clan, a rular of Harima (now Himeji) first constructed a fort here in 1333. Then, Hideyoshi Toyotomi built three-storied castle to defend against Mouri clan. When Ieyasu Tokugawa became a Shogun and started Tokugawa Shogunate in 17th century, Terumasa Ikeda, a vassal of Ieyasu,was in charge of dominating Himeji area and repaired this castle for 8 years. It was 1618 ,when Tadatoki Honda coming to Himeji with Princess Sen(Senhime), built “Nishino maru” for her. To build this castle, gravestones or garden lanterns were used for the making of stone walls because of the lack of stones.

Built in : 1346

The main lord of a castle : Terumasa Ikeda/ Tadatoki Honda

In Use : Until 1871