After another pleasant stay at the ANA Okayama, we took the
Shinkansen train to Himeji, home to one of Japan’s grandest feudal era
structures, the Himeji Castle.
Built in 1333, Himeji Castle is covered in a shiny white
exterior and is said to resemble a magnificent heron bird in flight.
The castle has remained resilient through years, surviving a
bombing raid during World War 2, and left relatively intact from a massive
earthquake that caused significant damage to the city of Himeji.
After an extensive renovation lasting nearly six years, the
castle reopened in 2015 to great fanfare, and the castle is a marvelous example
of traditional Japanese architecture.
Himeji Castle has often been touted as one of the top places
in Japan to see the Sakura blossoms, and that has resulted in the castle being
quite congested. In fact, during peak
weekend days numbered tickets to access the main keep are handed out on a first
come first served basis.
The crowd levels during the weekdays did seem to be
manageable, and I rescheduled our visit to Himeji Castle to fall on a Thursday
to ensure the crowd levels wouldn’t reach Tokyo Disneyland proportions.
Fortunately, sleeping in Okayama ensured that we would get
an hour head start from the tourists staying in Osaka and Kyoto, and we arrived
just as the castle gates were open.
A moat surrounds the castle, and local tourists could be
seen donning local straw hats, as a Japanese boatman manually maneuvered the
small rowboat.
Even from a distance, you can easily see the gleaming white
walls of Himeji Castle, with Sakura trees in full bloom.
Immediately upon walking into the main castle grounds, we
were greeted with rows and rows of Sakura trees.
After paying the 1000 yen admission fee we headed straight
to the main keep, enjoying the fresh spring breeze and the almost deserted
walkway.
To help thwart off attackers the castle’s narrow pathways are
winding, and getting to the actual main keep required going through multiple
gates and alleyways
Everywhere we walked there were picture perfect views of the
castle surrounded by Sakura blossoms.
As with all castles in Japan, the inside of the castle’s
main keep is relatively unfurnished with just a few exhibits. However, as the
largest castle in Japan, Himeji Castle’s main keep has six wooden floors with
plenty of stairs to climb.
The view from the top of the castle was well worth the
calories burned.
Once you finish touring the insides of the castle, make sure
to stop by the adjacent west garden, which has its own batch of Sakura trees,
and has noticeably lower crowd levels
We then headed back towards the Shinkansen. As we were
making our way towards the exit, streams of tourists started pouring in, and
noisy mainland Chinese tourists pierced the once tranquil atmosphere.
Overall, we really enjoyed our morning visit to Himeji
Castle. If you had to pick one place in Japan to see the Cherry Blossoms, this
would be it. Every time we turned a corner, our cameras came out, and it’s easy
to see why the castle is so popular with the locals.
If you have the Japan Rail pass, Himeji is the perfect
morning pit stop before heading onwards to Hiroshima. However, make sure you
get there right at opening time as the tourist group buses start pouring in at
around 9:45 AM.
