THE STORY
The Lonely Planet guide says that “If you see no other castles in Japan you should at least make an effort to visit Himeji-jo, unanimously acclaimed as the most splendid Japanese castle still standing.” That was good enough for me. I got some more information on the internet which confirmed that I ought to add this to my list of visitor attractions to include in the tour. I was spending the last couple of days on my own, after Catriona had gone back to Niigata, and a visit to Himeji seemed a pretty straightforward expedition which I could manage on my own from Osaka without getting lost!
It nearly didn’t turn out that way – I had caught the metro OK, and was waiting for the 8.56 shinkansen at Shin Osaka station. There are loads of these trains running up and down the main line, south-west to Hiroshima, and north-east to Tokyo. Himeji is just a couple of stops along the Hiroshima line. I looked up to see which platform the 8.56 was coming in to, and made my way there. Just before it arrived, I glanced up at the destination indicator on the platform, and it said “Tokyo”. There were trains going in both directions at the same time. I had a quick dash to the other platform, and made it in time to get the train I wanted. It was the first of a series of escapades with trains that day.
However, the visit to Himeji went smoothly after that. It was only 30 minutes by train, with a view to the left of the world’s longest suspension bridge linking Honshu with Awaji-shima.
I walked out from the busy station, which had a strange Germanic looking clock above the front entrance. An equally odd-looking piece of public art stood facing it, at the start of a long main street. This was the way to the castle, although it wasn’t visible. I set off walking along the street, past shops and cafes. It was another warm sunny day, lighting up the colourful banners along the pavement. Then I noticed a strange looking black stone statue, and then another, and another, spaced along the side of the street between the trees. There could have been ten of them, making it an interesting walk!
At the end of the street there was a busy junction, with high fortifications surrounding the castle. Crossing over, and entering through the gateway, it was there in front of me – still some distance away. I could understand why it is known as “the white egret” (a type of heron).
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Approaching the castle I reached the ticket office, and another gateway to go up, and as I drew closer to the castle it became more imposing. Like our own castles in Scotland, there is more to it than just the main keep – or “donjon” as it is called in Japanese. There’s a long series of rooms around a perimeter wall, connected by a corridor, with information on the significance and use of the rooms. I removed my shoes and went through each of them.
Back outside, I admired the various different medallion designs which adorn the eaves of the roof, signifying different craftsmen. Walking round to the front of the donjon, I looked down across the grounds, and edited a few of my digital photos to allow for some more of the castle. Then I went into the main building, and went gradually up through the six floors, looking at the exhibits of weaponry and samurai armour, and decorative screens..
On the top floor was a little shrine and a visitors’ book. The windows allowed views down the tiles of the roof to the grounds below, the surrounding walls and the city and hills beyond. I spoke with a Spanish couple – she was spending a year at Fukuyama university in a physics lab, and he was visiting her on holiday.
On the way down there was a scale model showing the internal timber skeleton and floors of the building. It was remarkable that it had survived for over 500 years, not just escaping attack, but avoiding being burnt down accidentally. Apparently the entire building had been dismantled and rebuilt in the 1990s, using traditional techniques and the original plans. It’s now on the list of World Heritage sites – that made three in three days (with Miyajima and Hiroshima).
It would be best to allow around three hours for the tour of the castle and grounds, although I spent rather less time there. I set off back down the other side of the main street, pausing briefly to see the other statues, but with more sightseeing planned for the afternoon.
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Postscript – trains and boats and planes
I was planning a return visit to Kyoto to try to see the Silver Pavilion and Golden Temple (see postscript to Kyoto walk). After achieving that despite difficulties with the transport system, I then tempted fate by trying to get back to Osaka to see the Tenjin Matsuri – one of the three biggest of the annual festivals that bring out the crowds in Japanese towns and cities. It has apparently been celebrated for a thousand years, focusing on the portable shrine of the 10th century scholar and warrior Sugawara no Michizane.
Despite more adventures with various trains, I got there, and was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the large percentage wearing traditional kimonos and wooden shoes – some young men as well as many young women. There was a short walk involved – from Sakuranomiya train station to a bridge – but mostly it involved standing on the bridge squeezed among other people waiting for whatever was going to happen. There were crowds on both banks of the river, and on pontoons moored on one side, where singers were performing. I made it there by about 4.40 pm, and it was still warm and sunny. I had a brochure about the festival from the hotel, but apart from that, no idea what was going on. There were announcements on public address systems which could be providing vital information, but it passed me by.
Out of the blue there was a sudden blitz of fireworks at about 6.15, but nothing for some time again after that. Perhaps it was the signal for boats to get moving. The young guy on my right had collapsed in a heap from boredom. Away to the left a TV camera crew were setting up their equipment. As people hemmed in behind me, more boats starting coming under the bridge: river cruisers with people having meals. Then there were more fireworks around 6.45 from both river banks, as the light began to fade. More appeared above Osaka Castle away in the distance, which was lit up by floodlights.
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For the next hour, as it got darker, a procession of big barges pulled by tugs went up and down past each other, with loads of party-goers in matching kimonos or other outfits, exchanging the same short chant with other barges or with those on the pontoons. It turned out this was a good place to watch the proceedings, and lots of other people were trying to get through to see as well.
Eventually the boat carrying the shrine came up river and went under the bridge. A bit later, around 7.55, I gave up and decided to head back to the hotel. It wasn’t so easy, with the bridge absolutely packed with people. Eventually I made it.
Back at Osaka main station, I bought some typical Japanese chocolates for the office (i.e. with exotic flavours such as green tea and melon). Leaving from the front of the station, I passed a couple of performing bands which had drawn enthusiastic crowds. There had been a similar scene earlier in the holiday at Shinjuku station in Tokyo – a bit more lively than the buskers in Glasgow or London!
I walked back to the hotel past enormous futuristic skyscrapers.
And that was that – the final impressions crammed into the last day, before packing up to fly home the next morning.
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Links
Himeji Castle
The World Heritage Site page for Himeji
There’s an interesting account of a visit by a specialist in Japanese martial arts and castle design
For some more information on Himeji Castle, see Japan-Guide.com
For Tenjin Matsuri, see
- the Osaka city tourism site
- a site covering Japanese Festivals
Contributed by: Andrew Llanwarne
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