Himeji Castle

• Go all the way to the top. You will appreciate the thick wooden pillars and beams on which this massive palace is built from ground up.
• The armoury on the third floor is amazing with a collection of Japanese Katana Swords from Samurai era.
• Try to walk around the castle. The beauty from inside is architectural, from outside Himeji Castle is a giant work of art.

We covered Himeji Castle on our penultimate day in Japan. It would have been big miss had we not decided to go for it. The architecture, construction and accessibility is unparalleled even by the open standards of Japan. Given that it is in opposite direction to Tokyo from Osaka, we took some effort and it paid off handsomely. While the castle is visible from railway station itself, it hardly justifies what's inside.

Himeji Castle, Himeji

Since we were moving with all our luggage, we decided to use one of those station lockers to keep everything and travel handsfree. The castle is a calm walk and as the size grows as you move closer you learn to admire. The walls of castle are surrounded by a mote and there is a huge foreground that you need to cover to reach the gates. Tickets for the entrance are on a higher side but worth.

View from front, Himeji Castle

As we were entering, an old Japanese woman approached us and said she can be our guide. We were wary of the charges but when she said guided tours in english are free, we being Indians were totally in. She was all thrilled and started explaining the route we are going to take in next three hours. We didn't have three hours and hence we parted happily with us being aware of the general route to take.

Facade, Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle is not only huge but also built on a theme. The whole structure is built on wood - even the foundation, the pillars and beams are thick logs. Built on this is the giant seven storey palace with separate stairs for going up and coming down. The floor gets smaller and smaller as we move up but the view and the architecture gets better and better - probably the royals would live at the top. In the middle floors, there was a whole section to store weaponry.

Structure, Himeji Castle

Even the tiled roofs are a amazingly carved as you would see once you cross the fourth floor. From the top, almost entire Himeji is accessible including the access road from the station and the foreground. There was more crowd here as everyone was taking rest and appreciating the artistic top floor. We also sat on one of the beams touching the floor and took some pictures.

Buildup material at display, Himeji Castle

Coming back and out, we again looked at the palace and wondered how rare it is that something is fantastic both from outside and inside. It was time to say goodbye to Japan. Our flight was next day and we were moving back to Tokyo just for the night stay. There were few touch points left like Metropolitan Building and Shinjuku Gyoen Park but with Himeji at the end, we had covered most of the great Japanese heritage.