is a flatland-mountain
Japanese castle' were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century...
complex located in Himeji in
Hyōgo Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
and comprising 83
woodWood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of trees . In a living tree it transfers water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues, and has a support function, enabling woody plants to reach large sizes or to stand up for themselves...
en
buildingIn architecture, construction, engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s. It is occasionally known as
Hakurojō or
Shirasagijō ("
White HeronThe herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons....
Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior.
It was registered as the first Japanese National Cultural Treasure by
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Cultural Treasure in December, 1993.
is a flatland-mountain
Japanese castle' were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century...
complex located in Himeji in
Hyōgo Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
and comprising 83
woodWood is an organic material; in the strict sense wood is produced as secondary xylem in the stems of trees . In a living tree it transfers water and nutrients to the leaves and other growing tissues, and has a support function, enabling woody plants to reach large sizes or to stand up for themselves...
en
buildingIn architecture, construction, engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following:# Any man-made structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or continuous occupancy, or...
s. It is occasionally known as
Hakurojō or
Shirasagijō ("
White HeronThe herons are wading birds in the Ardeidae family. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called egrets or bitterns instead of herons....
Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior.
It was registered as the first Japanese National Cultural Treasure by
UNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945...
World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Cultural Treasure in December, 1993. Along with
Matsumoto Castleis one of Japan's finest historic castles. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, in Nagano Prefecture and is within easy reach of Tokyo by road or rail....
and
Kumamoto CastleKumamoto Castle is a castle in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan that has been opened to the public for tours. A large, and in its day, an extremely well fortified Japanese castle. The donjon is a concrete reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the...
, 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' were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century...
, containing many of the defensive and architectural features most associated with Japanese castles. The tall stone foundations, whitewashed walls, and layout 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.
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.
Himeji Castle was originally built in 1346. At this time, it was called Himeyama Castle. In 1331, Akamatsu Sadanori planned a castle at the base of Mount Himeji, where
Akamatsu Norimurawas a Japanese samurai and clan leader of the Muromachi period. Norimura served as the shugo of Harima Province, awarded in 1336 after switching his support to the Ashikaga side from the Emporer Go-Daigo. Akamatsu Norimura constructed the temple of Shomyoji at the base of Mt. Himeji, which later...
had constructed the temple of Shomyoji. After Akamatsu fell during the Kakitsu War,
Yamana clanThe ' was a Japanese samurai clan which was one of the most powerful of the Muromachi period ; at its peak, members of the family held the position of Constable over eleven provinces. Originally from Kōzuke province, and later centered in Inaba province, the clan claimed descendance from the Seiwa...
briefly took over planning of the castle; the Akamatsu family took over again following the
Ōnin WarThe ' was a civil war from 1467 to 1477 during the Muromachi period in Japan. A dispute between Hosokawa Katsumoto and Yamana Sōzen escalated into a nationwide war involving the Ashikaga shogunate and a number of daimyo in many regions of Japan....
.
In 1580,
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
took control of the badly damaged castle, and Kuroda Yoshitaka built a three-story tower. Following the
Battle of SekigaharaThe , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...
in 1600,
Tokugawa Ieyasu
granted Himeji Castle to
Ikeda Terumasa' was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period. His court title was Musashi no Kami.Terumasa fought in many of the battles of the late Azuchi-Momoyama Period, and due to his service at the Battle of Sekigahara, received a fief at Himeji.-References:...
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" survived from the earlier period.
http://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/661.pdf The current keep dates from 1601, and the last major addition, the Western Circle, was completed in 1618.
Himeji was one of the last holdouts of the
tozama daimyōA ' was a daimyo who was considered an outsider by the rulers of Japan. The term came into use in the Kamakura period and continued until the end of the Edo period.-Edo period:...
at the end of the
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
. It was held by the descendants of Sakai Tadasumi until the
Meiji RestorationThe , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure...
. 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 abolishedThe was an act, in 1871, of the new Meiji government of the Empire of Japan to replace the traditional feudal domain system and to introduce centralized government authority . This process marked the culmination of the Meiji Restoration in that all daimyo were required to return their authority...
in 1871, Himeji Castle was sold at auction. Its final price was 23
Japanese YenThe is the currency of Japan. It is the third most-traded currency in the foreign exchange market after United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
(in those days, approximately 100,000 yen at today's rates) and in public funds. Himeji was bombed twice in 1945, at the end of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed, with one
firebombFirebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs....
dropped on the top floor of the castle miraculously
unexplodedUnexploded ordnance are explosive weapons that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation, potentially many decades after they were used or discarded...
. Castle restoration efforts began in 1956.
Popular culture
Himeji Castle frequently appears on Japanese
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
. Edo Castle (the present
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
) does not have a
keepA keep is a strong central tower which is used as a dungeon or a fortress. Often, the keep is the most defended area of a castle, and as such may form the main habitation area, or contain important stores such as the armoury, food, and the main water well, which would ensure survival during a...
, so when a fictional show such as
Abarenbo Shogunis a Japanese television program on the TV Asahi network. Set in the eighteenth century, it showed fictitious events in the life of Yoshimune, the eighth Tokugawa shogun. The program started in 1978 under the title Yoshimune Hyōbanki: Abarenbō Shōgun...
needs a suitably impressive substitute, the producers turn to Himeji.
In film
- In the James Bond
James Bond 007 is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. The character has also been used in the longest running and most financially successful English language film franchise to date, starting in 1962 with Dr...
film You Only Live TwiceYou Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
(1967), Himeji Castle appears as Tiger Tanaka's secret ninjaA was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations. The underhanded tactics of the ninja were contrasted with the samurai, who...
training school and rocket weapons development centre.
- Himeji appears in Akira Kurosawa
was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. In a career that spanned 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in film history...
's Kagemushais a 1980 film by Akira Kurosawa. The title is a term used for an impersonator. It is set in the Warring States era of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate a dying warlord in order to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable...
(1980) and Ranis a 1985 film written and directed by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. It is a jidaigeki depicting the fall of Hidetora Ichimonji , an aging Sengoku-era warlord who decides to abdicate as ruler in favor of his three sons...
(1985).
- The Last Samurai
The Last Samurai is a 2003 drama film/war film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay based on a story by John Logan.This film was inspired by a project developed by writer and director Vincent Ward...
(2003), starring Tom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known by his screen name of Tom Cruise, is an American actor and film producer. Forbes magazine ranked him as the world's most powerful celebrity in 2006. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and won three Golden Globe Awards...
, was shot on locationOn location can refer to:*Filming location, a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced*On Location , a name of an HBO special series...
near Himeji City at Engyō-jiThe is a temple of the Tendai sect in Himeji, Hyōgo, Japan. It was founded by Shoku Shonin in 966.The complex of buildings is at the top of Mt Shosha and can be reached by Mt. Shosha Ropeway, and is often visited by pilgrims...
Temple on Mount Shosha. The scene where Cruise and Ken Watanabeis a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. To English-speaking audiences he is known for playing tragic hero characters, such as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi in Letters from Iwo Jima and Lord Katsumoto in The Last Samurai, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting...
are standing under some cherry blossom trees talking about Watanabe's poem was filmed in the family grave of the Honda clan, who were the daimyois a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
's of Himeji Castle for about a hundred years or so.
- In Shogun, a 1980 TV miniseries starring Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
, Himeji appears as Osaka Castle.
In videogames
- In Civilization Revolution
Civilization Revolution is a 2008 iteration of Civilization developed by Firaxis with Sid Meier as designer for the iPhone OS, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. A Wii version was originally expected but was put on indefinite hold...
for the Xbox 360The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft, and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles....
, Playstation 3The PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment, and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series...
and Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
, the Himeji Castle can be built as a WonderVarious lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled over the ages to catalogue the most spectacular man-made constructions and natural things in the world....
.
Gallery: Castle in perspective
Panorama overview
View from the donjon
Looking up towards donjon
Walls
Non-photographic images
See also
- Koko-en Garden
Japanese garden Koko-en was constructed in 1992 on a site next to Himeji Castle.It was constructed at the site of the Lord's West Residence. The garden is about 3.5 hectares and has nine different gardens.-External links:*...
: a garden created in 1992 next to Himeji Castle
- List of National Treasures of Japan (castles)
External links