Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Himeji Castle

As noted in an earlier post, I visited Himeji Castle on my way west to Shikoku on my recent trip. The castle has been beautifully restored. It's renowned for its lofty height and its white plaster walls, which have given it the nickname "Shirasagi" or "The White Egret." On my first day in Himeji, the weather was not favorable – overcast, drizzly, and cold – but the second day brought sun and fluffy clouds. The cherry trees, although beginning to fade, were still pretty. I arrived early on the morning that I toured the castle interior, avoiding the crowds. Normally only the main central keep is open to the public (entrance fee ¥1,000) but for some reason the three auxiliary turrets that surround the main keep and their connecting passageways were open if you paid an additional ¥1,000. 

I thought the exterior walls as interesting as the interior, but I enjoyed seeing the gun and spear racks all along many of the interior walls and it was instructive to see the elevated platforms along walls in sections of the castle that, because of the extensive gabling, have windows high up on the walls. The platforms allowed guards to fire arrows or matchlock guns from the windows and loopholes. The loopholes throughout the structure have differed shapes and they pierce the walls at different heights, allowing defenders to fire various weapons from standing, kneeling, or prone positions. 

Because the castle is so large, it was apparently difficult to find the rocks necessary to build the walls. In several places placards pointed out large stones that were apparently scavenged from the surrounding countryside. There were pieces of lanterns, pieces of other buildings, and in several places large stones that originally were parts of sarcophagi taken from burial grounds in the area. Well worth a visit.

Pleces I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Kyoto and Nara

Before heading to Himeji, I stopped off for a couple of days in Kyoto and Nara, mainly to visit friends, but the cherries were once again in bloom, although beginning to fall, and in Nara I visited the Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), one of the largest wooden structures in the world, that houses one of the largest Buddha statues in the world, if not the largest. The last time I saw it was nearly 50 years ago. The statue is about 49 feet tall. The raised hand alone is about 8 feet high. The building that houses the statue has been rebuilt several times, having succumbed to fire. The present structure, rebuilt in 1692, is only about two thirds the size of the original temple hall's size, but still very impressive. Two large Bodhisattvas flank the main figure and several other smaller Buddhist statues are on display along with  models of the former and current buildings. 

There was a long line of people waiting their turn to experience another popular attraction, a pillar in the hall with a hole in its base that is the same size as the Daibutsu's nostril. The story is that if you can squeeze through this opening you will be granted enlightenment in the next life.

In Kyoto, friends and I had a late-night snack at a restaurant in the Gion district decorated with cases of vintage toys (including an entire case of Atom Boy figures) and with examples of the small cash envelopes used to pass money to the prostitutes that were housed in this part of Kyoto in times past. At the station in Kyoto on my way to Himeji I noticed an entire Hello Kitty-themed train. Yes, there are Hello Kitty trains in Japan.

Places I'm Visiting: Japan 2025 – Himeji

Since last reporting, I've traveled to Himeji. I decided to visit the famous castle there. I have seen it before, from the windows of a passing train, but never stopped in Himeji to have a look close up. It was raining when I arrived and fairly late in the day, so, instead of touring the castle, I visited the Himeji City Art Museum and walked the castle grounds before touring Kokoen, a set of gardens next to the castle but separate from it. 

Despite the rain, the gardens were beautiful and I enjoyed seeing quite a few birds, including the ubiquitous Eurasian Tree Sparrows and Brown-cheeked Bulbuls and I saw some of the White-cheeked Starlings that I first saw in Tokyo, but there were also some more unusual species. I noted a Pale Thrush, which is a bird I saw for the first time on my trip to Japan last year. There was a second thrush species, which turned out to be the Dusky Thrush, a new life bird for me. Oriental Turtle Doves were present. These seem to hang out at temples, shrines, and castles. I noted a couple of Oriental Greenfinches, which I think I have seen before, but I will have to confirm that by checking my life list at home. Varied Tits were chirping in the trees. A Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker (another bird I saw for the first time last year while visiting Japan) landed on a tree right in front of me while I was trying to photograph the Dusky Thrush. 

Finally, there were many wagtails present. I finally figured out the difference between the two very similar black and white species, the White Wagtail and the Japanese Wagtail. The face of the latter is black up to and including the eye. The White Wagtail has much more white on the face. It was a very satisfying stroll, both for the birds and the gardens.