Himeji Castle (姫路城) is a Japanese castle located in Himeji in Hyogo Prefecture. It is one of the oldest surviving structures from medieval Japan, and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Japanese National Cultural Treasure. Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, it is one of Japan's Three Famous Castles, and is the most visited one in Japan. It is occasionally known as the White Heron Castle because of its brilliant white exterior.
Himeji serves as an excellent example of the prototypical Japanese castle, containing many of the defensive and architectural features most associated with Japanese castles. The tall stone foundations, whitewash walls, and organization 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, stone-dropping holes. The current keep dates from 1601.
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 force 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 remained untested.
The castle was conceived and constructed during the Nanbokucho era of the Muromachi period. At this time, it was called Himeyama Castle. In 1346, Akamatsu Sadanori planned a castle at the base of Mount Himeji, where Akamatsu Norimura had constructed the temple of Shomyoji. After Akamatsu fell during the Kakitsu War, the Yamana clan briefly took over the planning of the castle but the Akamatsu family took over again following the Onin War.
In 1580, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took control of the castle, and Kuroda Yoshitaka built a three-story tower. Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1601, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Himeji Castle to Ikeda Terumasa. Ikeda embarked on an eight-year expansion project that brought the castle roughly to its current form. The last major addition, the Western Circle, was completed in 1618.
Himeji was one of the last holdouts of the tozama daimyo at the end of the Edo period. It was held by the descendants of Sakai Tadasumi until the Meiji Restoration. 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 abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was sold at auction. Its final price was 23 yen and 50 sen. However, the cost of dismantling the castle proved to be prohibitive, and as a result it was abandoned.
The Tenth Infantry Regiment occupied Himeji Castle in 1874, and the War Ministry took control of the castle in 1879. The main tower was renovated in 1910 using 90,000 yens in public funds.
Himeji was bombed in 1945, at the end of World War II. Although most of the surrounding area was burned completely to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed, except for a few stray impacts from nearby shells.
