Fortresses and Festivals (part 1)

About 50km west of Kobe is the city of Himeji, famous for one of the best preserved of all of Japan's medieval castles. It only takes about an hour to get there on the Sanyo line, with a further 10 minutes walk from the station. It is reportedly the most visited castle in Japan, probably the most photogenic, and certainly much better constructed than Takeshi's.

A fortress has stood at the site since the 14th century, but it was the great shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu who created the amazing construction that still stands today, in the early part of the 17th century. The grounds are now landscaped with cherry trees and cypress pines, but originally they would have housed the shogun's personal army of samurai warriors (see map, below). The castle has never seen a battle, which accounts for its amazing condition, so they must have been pretty scary warriors.

Himeji castle had everything that Jessica's Disney-warped imagination pre-supposed it should - moat, six-storey keep, a maze of baileys, turrets and curved ceramic roofs, all creating a bastion of unbelievable picture-book majesty and beauty. There are websites that do the castle far better justice than this blog, but here a few pictures to give you a feel of the place (click to enlarge).. .