Text | Yuyi people
Edit | Beauty age
The elegant and spectacular castle towers, white facades and winding eaves of Himeji Castle are like a huge egret spreading its wings, perched on the top of Mount Hime, overlooking the waves of the Seto Inland Sea, so it is also known as Egret Castle.
Himeji Castle, together with Kumamoto Castle and Matsumoto Castle, is known as the three famous castles in Japan. The biggest feature of the whole Himeji Castle is that the castle is well preserved, not only the moat, but also the bridges, gates, earthen mounds, stone walls, etc. in the castle, all of which still have the most original castle architecture of the early 17th century, and are also known as "Japan's first city".
What is less well known, however, is that the majestic and beautiful appearance of Himeji Castle is not only due to artistic beauty, but to military principles. The castle consists of 83 buildings with highly developed defensive systems and elaborate protective devices, which not only guarantee the defensive function but also embody high aesthetic value, and are exemplary of timber architecture.
This magnificent "Egret City" was born in the era of the war between the heroes and the heroes, and those famous figures in history hollowed out their hearts to build the city against the enemy, so they left this unique fortress that amazed future generations. The white façade of the castle, the layout of the building and the multi-storey design of the castle roof all look imposing and majestic. While showing the world a great heritage, it also reflects the refinement of Japanese castle architecture and strategic defensive skills.
Since its establishment, Himeji Castle has experienced wars at the end of the shogunate, the destruction of the castle in the Meiji era, and the bombing during World War II, and has been destroyed every time, and it has been called "no war castle" by the Japanese! This impregnable legendary fortress has been preserved intact to this day, and has experienced the vicissitudes of time and the baptism of war, which is worthy of the miracle of the history of human civilization.
Himeji Castle was first built in 1346 (the first year of The Great Peace) by Akamatsu Sadashi during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of Japan, when Himeji was only a small part of the existing scale. For the next hundred or two hundred years, Himeji Castle was fought back and forth between the Akamatsu clan and the Yamana clan. It was not until the end of the Sengoku period in 1580 that Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who later became a well-known figure, became the new lord of Himeji Castle.
The small Himeji Castle, of course, could not bear the ambitions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who built a three-story castle tower in the castle, and used Himeji Castle as a supply point, seized the fleeting warplane, recovered Oda Nobunaga's old division, and became one of the most powerful men in the history of the Japanese Sengoku period.
More than 20 years later, Japan was largely unified at the hands of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's old rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who defeated the daimyōs to dominate Japan. In 1681, Tokugawa Ieyasu's son-in-law, Ikeda Keimasa, joined Theohime Road. In order to fulfill the task given by his father-in-law to "monitor the daimyōs of the Western Kingdom", Ikeda decided to expand the castle, and Himeji Castle ushered in a major transformation that would set its own face for hundreds of years to come.
The Himeji Castle expansion project used 387 tons of wood, 75,000 bricks and tiles, a total weight of 3,048 tons, and a large number of huge rocks weighing 1 ton. Beginning with the expansion in 1601, it took more than a decade to complete it. The castle's design skillfully combines impregnable military defenses with soft and elegant architecture, a pioneering example in Japanese castle architecture.
After Ikeda's reign, the rulers of Himeji Castle lived in this huge castle for generations, and countless legends were born over the centuries: Chihime, the granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, shed tears of loyalty and love in the castle; a generation of swordsmen Miyamoto Musashi subdued mysterious ghosts here...
The design of Himeji Castle has a theme of rendering and emphasizing the absolute authority of the daimyo and the lord of the city. Of course, not only Himeji Castle, but almost all Japanese castles have such design ideas, and the architectural language is used to form a sense of shock, worship and fear in the minds of the city lords.
Himeji Castle is tightly structured, and its triple spiral strategic fortifications include external, central, and internal trenches. The fortifications were exquisitely constructed, starting with three concentric moats, and the moats surrounded the tall and winding stone castles, with several gates and watchtowers set up between the castles. There are small holes for archery and gun shooting in the walls and watchtowers, and the road in the inner courtyard of the castle, which turns thousands of times, is like a trance array, but can be seen clearly from the top floor.
The castle keep is the tallest and most important part of a castle, with the function of watching and directing battles, and is also one of the symbols of power of local forces. Among the 100 castles in Japan, the castle keep of Himeji Castle is one of the only 12 remaining castle keeps. The undulating gables and white stucco walls strike a beautiful balance that gives people a sense of tranquility and elegance.
The appearance of the large castle keep has five floors of flying mounds, and the interior is divided into seven floors, including a basement; next to it, there are three small sky keeps of "east, west and dry", which are connected and interconnected, such a design is called "continuous sky keep", which makes the defense of the entire city more solid. The walls of the castle tower are decorated with pairs of convex pillars, which are interspersed with the waist eaves and overlap and staggered. The ishigaki is steeply inclined, and the upper part of the ishigaki is tilted outward, making it difficult to climb.
The stucco wall is a symbol of the beauty of Himeji Castle, and is sealed with white mortar, a unique Japanese wall coating material. White mortar is made of materials such as lime, shell ash, hemp knife, seaweed and so on, and is a traditional construction method that has been passed down since ancient times. It is repeatedly applied lightly and repeatedly, and its thickness is nearly 3 centimeters, which can prevent the castle from fire or wind and snow. The joint of the roof tiles uses a special stucco called "House Root Purpose", which will be more resistant to wind and vibration when tightly adhered.
Standing on the top floor of the 31-meter-high castle tower, the entire Himeji Castle is in full view, with white walls and gray tiles scattered in the buildings, and red lanterns fluttering among the bustling castles. The top of the castle tower is decorated with animal-like, huge and ornate grates protruding from the eaves, which are fireproof and evil repellents. Under the firmament, he held out his claws and looked down on all beings.
After 400 years of baptism, Himeji Castle still has its original brilliance. This is because Himeji Castle underwent many renovations: in the early 20th century, the local residents could not bear to see the ruins of the broken walls of Egret Castle, so they raised funds and petitions to promote the repair of the fortifications. In 1956, the Great Celestial Guard was even dismantled for a more thorough restoration. The most recent major renovation began in 2009 and was not reopened until 2015.
The antique and beautiful and magnificent appearance of Himeji Castle makes it a continuous crowd of tourists throughout the year, and in the spring, the Himeji Castle Cherry Blossom Viewing Festival "Hanami Big Drum" and the Senji Peony Festival are held, in the summer there is the Himeji Castle "Port Festival", in the autumn there is the Himeji Castle Moon Festival, in the winter there is the Himeji National Pottery Exhibition, and so on. If you're visiting Japan, this independent "Japan's No. 1 City" is a stop not to be missed.