Adventures in Japan

Sock It To Me One More Time

Himeji castle is arguably Japan's most famous castle. It's not the biggest, nor the oldest, but it is the most unchanged since it was first built. Or something. Lots of original materials still compose it. Most castles you can visit around Japan have been rebuilt numerous times. Due to fires (both natural and man made) or earth quakes or bombs, every castle has had to be refurbished. Not Himeji castle. Never saw warfare, has stood through countless earthquakes, and was about the only part of Himeji city unscathed by American bombers.

Himeji city is a bit of a hike from where we live. In fact, if we were to hike there, I wouldn't be sitting here typing this right now. I'd still be hiking. So we had to buy us some tickets. Usually we're pretty good at that kind of thing. I say we but mainly it's Carla who takes care of those details. Not that I was in charge today, oh heaven's no. Nope, there was just some miscommunication and it took us a lot longer than usual to get things sorted. Plus once we finally got on to the right train, we had to stand. Usually not such a big deal, but this train ride was going to be over an hour. Not the best start to the day. Luckily some seats opened up a few stops into the journey and I was able to enjoy the scenery.

But I wasn't able to photograph it. Carla and I have to get better at getting our gear in order the night before. We had enough forethought to dump all the pictures off the memory card last night. We just kinda forgot to put the memory card back into the camera. Kinda sucky, but no real drama. We just took the memory card out of the phone and plunked it into the camera. See, no problem, but it was just another thing not going as well as it could this morning. Not that I am one to point out ominous portents or anything. I fell asleep sometime after seeing the biggest suspension bridge I ever done seen. I woke up near Himeji.


You leave the train station and you can see the castle. It's a 15 minute walk away, but it's still pretty hard to miss. Impressive even from afar.

Even more so up close. But here is where I should mention that we had more camera trouble. One of the screw from the bottom of the camera fell out. SO now there's dust all on the inside of the viewing screen. Doesn't seem to affect the quality of my picture. Insert self deprecating comment here.


We paid our hard earned money to visit the castle grounds and they threw in an English speaking tour guide for free. And a Swedish guy named Eric. Of course I forget the name of our tour guide. He was very good. A little hard to understand at times, and I would have liked to have taken a more leisurely pace, but he knew all sorts of stuff about all sorts of stuff and that's the stuff that counts.


Himeji castle is just nuts with cool stuff. It looks stupendous and beautiful but it is also one of the most military minded castles ever. Full of bottlenecks and switchbacks and collapsible walls and blinds and dead ends and stuff to put the invaders at a severe disadvantage. Every possible entrance can be easily monitored from within the castle. The castle walls are filled with holes big enough to shoot through but not see in to. Lots of places to drop rocks and boiling oil on the heathens below. The steps are all uneven. Low ceilings so the enemy can't use their spears, but the ceiling panels can be removed by warriors in the room above so they can stab the helpless people below. Crazy lots of stuff. And it looks fantastic, as I've mentioned before. Plus one of the wells contained a hidden ninja entry point. It led down to the moat. Where there was a submerged path that he could run along, making him to appear like he was running on the water. Neato.


One more bit of knowledge, this one not told to us by our guide. Floors in Japanese castles are intentionally squeaky in places so that people can't sneak in in the middle of the night.

Okay, more stuff about the castle... I can't help it, I really liked it. Construction on this castle started in 1601 and finished in 1609. That's eight years to build this magnificent castle. Almost completely of wood. On top of a small mountain. Right up to the edges of the mountain top, so there was nowhere for enemy forces to climb up to. Using massively sized timbers. One of the main support pillars is 26.4 meters tall. That's tall. That's five stories tall. Experts today still have no idea how they managed to stand it up. They're also amazed at the forethought of the people who built the castle. 400 years old and more earthquake proof than a lot of modern buildings. Insane. Okay, now I'll shut my yap about the castle.

Now I can talk about the gardens right next door. The tour took nearly two hours so the light was beginning to fade as we entered the gardens. Still, they looked fantastic. The light just made it harder to take decent pictures is all. I need all the help I can get, y'see. But there's a chance we might go back. Just to see it in the different seasons. I'd try to better describe it, but I think I'm over my word count for the day. Maybe, I'll just show some pictures that I don't hate.


You'd think I would be sick of taking pictures of leaves by now. You'd be wrong.




It's hard taking pictures of a girl who doesn't like getting her picture taken.


According to the informative plaque next to it, this bush is a Schneider bush. I post just in case any Schneiders read this.


This fish just ate some Imperial Margarine.


Little bit of engrish for y'all.

Once we got back to Osaka, Carla made a new friend. I only tell you this because I know that she won't. But first, I need to mention something to help set the stage. Kinda

Y'all know what sake is right? Cool. They sell cups of sake in vending machines and most convenience stores and supermarkets. Usually clear glasses filled with clear sake. There. Table set. Now I just need to figure out which fork to use.

The man that approached Carla, repeating the Japanese words for pretty and beautiful over and over, had such a cup of sake. But I couldn't be sure if it was filled with actual sake or his own drool. To be fair, any of us would drool as much as he did if we were as drunk and had as few teeth. So Drooly McStinkalot poked Carla in her pretty face with his wet finger and tried to get her to try his cup of clear fluid.