http://youtube.com/watch?v=ii4LaWMrx8s
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d4Gydbwe7GI
Himeji Castle is one of the two best castles in the Kansai area. It's worth visiting even if you have already been to Osaka Castle. To get to Himeji Castle take the JR line to Himeji and look for the castle. It will be obvious. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to the castle from the station. The entrance fee for the castle is 500 yen. It opens at 9am and closes at 4pm. It's closed from December 29-31. For more information, call 0792-85-1146.
Himeji Castle姫路城
Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan
Built 1333-1346; destroyed and rebuilt 1580; major expansions 1601-1608
Built by Akamatsu clan (original); Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1580) Ikeda Terumasa (17th c. expansion)
Construction
materials Wood, stone, plaster, tile
In use 1333-1868
Demolished 1580, and rebuilt by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Current
condition Largely intact, restoration work begun in 1956
Controlled by Akamatsu clan (1346-1580), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1580-1598), Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1871), Japan (1871-present)
Commanders Kuroda Yoshitaka (c. 1580-1590s), Ikeda Terumasa (c. 1601-1610s)
Himeji Castle (Japanese: 姫路城; -jō) is a Japanese castle complex located in Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture and comprising 83 wooden buildings. It is occasionally known as Hakurojō or Shirasagijō ("White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior.
It was registered as the first Japanese National Cultural Treasure by UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Cultural Treasure in December, 1993. Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, it is one of Japan's "Three Famous Castles", and is the most visited castle in Japan.
Architecture, defenses, and design Himeji serves as an excellent example of the prototypical Japanese castle, containing many of the defensive and architectural features most associated with Japanese castles. The tall stone foundations, whitewash walls, and organization of the buildings within the complex are standard elements of any Japanese castle, and the site also features many other examples of typical castle design, including gun emplacements and stone-dropping holes. The current keep dates from 1601.
One of Himeji's most important defensive elements, and perhaps its most famous, is the confusing maze of paths leading to the main keep. The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to cause an approaching force to travel in a spiral pattern around the castle on their way into the keep, facing many dead ends. This allowed the intruders to be watched and fired upon from the keep during their entire approach. However, Himeji was never attacked in this manner, and so the system remains untested.
History The castle was conceived and constructed during the Nanboku-cho era of the Muromachi period. At this time, it was called Himeyama Castle. In 1331, Akamatsu Sadanori planned a castle at the base of Mount Himeji, where Akamatsu Norimura had constructed the temple of Shomyoji. After Akamatsu fell during the Kakitsu War, Yamana clan briefly took over planning of the castle; the Akamatsu family took over again following the Ōnin War.
In 1580, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took control of the badly damaged castle, and Kuroda Yoshitaka built a three-story tower. Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1601, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Himeji Castle to Ikeda Terumasa who embarked on a nine-year expansion project that brought the castle roughly to its current form. "Only the east gate of one section of the second bailey" survive from the earlier period.1? The last major addition, the Western Circle, was completed in 1618.
Himeji was one of the last holdouts of the tozama daimyō at the end of the Edo period. It was held by the descendants of Sakai Tadasumi until the Meiji Restoration. In 1868, the new Japanese government sent the Okayama army, under the command of a descendant of Ikeda Terumasa, to shell the castle with blank cartridges and drive its occupiers out.
When the han system was abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was sold at auction. Its final price was 23 yen and in public funds. Himeji was bombed twice in 1945, at the end of World War II. Although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed. Castle restoration efforts began in 1956
Himeji Castle frequently appears on Japanese television. Edo Castle (the present Kokyo) does not have a keep, so when a fictional show such as Abarenbo Shogun needs a magnificent substitute, the producers turn to Himeji.
James Bond film You Only Live Twice starring Sean Connery 1967, Himeji Castle appears as Tiger Tanaka's secret ninja training school and rocket weapons development center.
Akira Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha' 1980
Akira Kurosawa's 'Ran' 1985, Himeji was used for large parts of the film,
The Last Samurai 2003 starring Tom Cruise, shot on location at Himeji Castle using artificial snow
Shogun 1980 TV-miniseries/film starring Richard Chamberlain, shot on location at Himeji Castle, called it Osaka Castle, and you can't really see it from the water.