Himeji Castle

I visited Himeji Castle with Yoshiko when I stayed with her last weekend. Inside we took our shoes off and climbed the very steep six flights of stairs. On the third floor we had to wait for 20 min. because it got so crowded at the top. The ceilings are very low because Japanese people from the time of the castle were very short. There were signs saying Mind Your Head with red strings hanging down as a reminder to duck. It was a great day, weather wise. We did not eat lunch until 4:30pm because the tour took so long! It is one castle in Japan that is pretty much the same as when it was built in the 14th century---very different from the Osaka Castle. The Himeji Castle is also a World Heritage Site and there were LOTS of foreigners, more than I'd seen in a while.

The pictures are not in any kind of order. Some of them are not the best of my best pictures, but I figured I'd rather post them than not. Enjoy!

A good frontal view of the castle, minus the tree branches on the left.

A view before we left when the sun was setting. Pretty, eh? :-)

All the different holes to peek through and (perhaps) shoot the enemies from.

According to legend, a girl drowned in the well, and ever since then, her ghost haunts the place.

It says stone coffins are embedded in the walls. Kind of creepy!

View from the top.

Fish tail on the roof at and a view from the top floor window.

Just in case you forget, a sign reminding you to put on your shoes at the end of the tour. The last Japanese character is missing, but one can still figure it out.

Going down the stairs. They are MUCH steeper than they look!

Shinto shrine on the sixth floor.

Very old footwear. Ouchy looking.

A shooting hole---there are many different shapes: circles, triangles, rectangles...I think that was about it.

Since one is not obligated to wear slippers, only to take off his/her shoes, there were many bare feet. I went in my socks. You can see slippers in the background of the picture.

An important notice inside the castle (!) 

Stairs

A water drain. I guess maybe it should be horizontal. Sorry.

See that narrow horizontal slit above the stone wall? You can throw rocks down on enemies from there---very clever!

A display of all the family tiles---each royal family has its own mark, which becomes part of the roof decorations(?) on the castle.

View from afar.