HIMEJI CASTLE - 姫路城

Sorry to leave anyone on that cliffhanger. I will now write about Saturday's Himeji adventure - one of my favorite trips so far here in Japan.

The day started off with an amazing breakfast because - I HAD FRENCH TOAST. I was so happy. My host dad kept apologizing for forgetting to bake the bread, so they had regular bread that my host mom used to make some of the best french toast I have ever had. We kept joking around and I kept fake whispering "it's okay. Forget again!"

After finishing up last-minute preparations, I headed to our meet-up point. We rode the expensive and confusing but useful JR (Japan Rail) for about an hour and a half to get to Himeji. Cities, coastline, ocean, forested mountains, farms, a small castle in Kobe, and a Toys R Us entertained us from the windows. I also read a borrowed manga called Abara that was very random, had very few words, and was almost like reading someone's dream. Not a story inspired by a dream, but their actual dream with random scenes that are really only connected by an overall theme and dark, nightmarish imagery.The art style was interesting, but I would not suggest it since it was kind of boring story-wise.

As soon as you leave the station, you can see the castle in the distance. To be honest, you can see this amazing castle from many points in the city. It is the third largest castle of Japan, a World Heritage site, and a crown jewel as far as many Japanese people are considered. It was amazing. Before I continue, I also want to point out that Himeji is the "White Heron Castle" and we actually saw a White Heron flying around throughout the day! My friends will attest that I was extremely exciting concerning these incidents. I took it as a magical aspect of the day and a good omen. Later on, it even "led" us home and flew in the direction of the train station as we rushed home.

Anyway, first we went to Itatehyozu shrine which has an impressive red gate followed by a less
impressive parking lot and then the actual shrine area. This was pretty, but not as pretty as Ikuda shrine. However, there were a lot of owl and frog statues that I loved. There were also two fu-dog like statues and this cool dragon fountain by a lovely koi pond encircling a small island housing a shrine of some sort. On top of all that, there was a traditional Japanese wedding going on and people were encouraged to still enter the shrine and even watch the wedding. It was neat hearing the music throughout the grounds as we perused the various small shrines.

We backtracked to Himeji way to fuel up for the rest of the day. There were some neat statues and even fellow study abroad students along the way! We ended up eating at a cafe called Italian Tomato that played classical music and had some really good food (I had a mini pizza and acai fruit bowl - delicious).

Then we finally made our way to the castle! Just walking up to it was beautiful. I had another record-breaking day of pictures (*cough* ~1400 *cough*). The castle grounds are quite large. Once you enter the tall and sturdy main gate, you see a large field with people posing for pictures. We joined with squats, dabs, and jumps (sounds a bit like a work out, now that I am typing it).



Once we entered the castle (after removing our shoes, of course), I had the feeling of traveling through time. Unlike the castle of Osaka and Iga Ueno, the insides of this castle have not been turned into a museum. Sure, there were informational panels every now and then and the first floor had old emblems in glass casings as well as scale models of the original town and castle structure, but the experience was basically walking through each level of the castle as it was long ago. I felt like a shogun, walking with socked feet across the smooth wooden floors through the corridors. My friends all agreed that it was an amazing castle and living there, spending the night there, or playing hide-and-seek there would be phenomenal. There were also some spots where various sections of the castle came close together and made me think of scenes from Uncharted - I half expected to see someone jump across the gaps.

Once we got to the very top floor, we were met with a small shrine to Osakabe. According to the pamphlet, the shrine used to be in in the area since the god protected the land but, once the castle was constructed, was moved to the top of the castle as Himeji's guardian deity. It was neat to hear the clapping and bell clanging while enjoying the view (though it was a bit crowded). Also, Osaka Castle may not have been as big or traditional-feeling, but it had a 360 balcony on the top floor while Himeji only had the windows with mesh covering them (making pictures a bit difficult). However, I did manage to get some shots of the current shacha (dragon-fish creatures) on top of the castle (I'm including this one since you can see Himeji way in the background). Going down the six floors' steep stairs was interesting, but everyone made it.



Behind the castle is a nice over-look, a 100+ year old giant sakura tree, and a very deep well (not sure how deep but it was neat). Further down the path, there was another well, but it was haunted. A serving woman was killed for breaking a plate and supposedly haunted her murderer by counting over and over again the number of plates she put away and always stopping at the number she broke.

There were so many neat angles of this gorgeous castle so I will post a few more pictures here before continuing with the day.

And who's that? Shiromaruhime! The mascot of Himeji! Adorable, right?


After dreamily enjoying the castle, we left the main grounds and walked over to Kokoen - the imperial gardens of Himeji Castle. This was also gorgeous. Parts of the garden were sectioned off with low yet mysterious and long walls. There were so many different types of beautiful flowers and plants as well as large, vibrant koi. I even saw one koi nibbling on some reeds, the tips trembling. As we walked out of a small building with beautiful mini-kimono of bird, castle, and flower designs, my breathe was caught. A while ago, I mentioned how I have been being hit by waves of familiarity and knowing I had dreams of certain scenes: well, I had been on that walkway surrounded by water and greenery before in a dream. Even more crazy, in the dream, there had been giant white cranes and herons...and this is in Himeji aka white heron city. Coincidence...I think not!

Of the many plants we saw bamboo, ayame (those purple flowers I saw in the day before Arashiyama), bonsai trees, Japanese pine trees, lily pads, and a single lotus flower. These gardens were absolutely gorgeous and peaceful. It was amazing to experience so many different set ups and plant species. One section was flower-heavy, another had bonsai and mini plots, another was light and airy with bamboo, another lush with mini waterfalls and thick trees and koi, everything interspersed with mini ponds and creeks. Totally worth the extra 40 yen (the entrance fee to the castle is 1000 yen and the combined castle and garden is 1040 - heck yes do it).







It had been cloudy and misty all day, but no real rain. It did start drizzling at one point and we ended up stumbling onto a tea house inside the garden. It was not yet closing time so we spontaneously added it to our schedule. We had traditional matcha, thick and delicious with frothy bubbles on top. We also had this silky smooth Japanese sweet that was very much like a flower. We sat on tatami mats and enjoyed the garden, as the kimono-clad servers gave us our tea and even did a slight bow to each of us individually when giving or taking dishes. They were really nice and much more open once we proved we spoke Japanese (not that they were being closed off - I think we gave them a pleasant surprise). There were nice details in the tea house, included engravings and wallpaper of Toyotomi's paulownia crest (especially neat because Himeji was another of his castles).

                                  





                                                                                                                            












After the beautiful gardens, we headed towards the nearby Otokoyama. On the way, we turned earlier than Google Maps originally suggested since we saw this gorgeous path going down the middle of the castle's moat called Lane of Princess Sen. Apparently Sen was one of the few princesses to actually marry out of romance and lived a happy life at the castle and would often walk that path as well as the Kokoen gardens. We soon were able to turn off Google Maps since a friend saw something that I was trying to find - a steep, tall set of stairs. You see, a vlogger I love who lives in Japan recently uploaded some Himeji videos and I used it as "research." One of the places she went to was Otokoyama, with a ridiculous staircase (so thank you Mimei!). Climbing up those stairs is utterly worth it. The view of the city and, more importantly, the castle was just stunning. I was so happy. And as the light altered, the view just kept getting better. It would probably make a gorgeous sunset or sunrise spot. As I was obsessing over photos, my friends were figuring out the "real life" Zelda puzzle (there were random markers, gear-looking barrels, an out of place indentation in the ground with various symbols, and so on - it was very entertaining).

 The day was pretty perfect until getting home. We rushed and missed the train we rushed for by seconds. Then misinterpreted Google Maps and ended up going to the Osaka station instead of Nishinomiya. Then having to figure out where to go from there, contacting host families, and ultimately deciding to eat ramen while contemplating human nature and relationships. It was an interesting and adventurous night. The ramen was my first regular ramen in Japan and it was delicious. We ate at a traditional ramen shop in which people (a lot of which were businessmen coming to eat after work) sitting at a bar around the kitchen and using very informal language. It was the best ramen I've ever had - noodles, broth, ginger, vegetables, fried rice on the side, and extra meat thanks to my happening to sit next to my awesome friend who is vegan.

 Once I finally made it home after a long day, I chatted with my host mother and the remaining daughter for a bit, showered, and went to bed. It was a lot of fun, but exhausting. If you need me, I'll be trying to figure out if Himeji Castle can be sold for 23.5 yen a second time.

Fun Facts concerning the castle:

• There's a central pillar that was originally made from one single, 28 meter fir tree
• There are many secret hiding spots in the castle
• Arrow slits everywhere
• Himeji Castle is considered the "Castle of Miracles" since it survived two bombings of Himeji castle and, luckily, the one bomb that did fall on the castle failed to explode. It is said that "people shed tears seeing that the Himeji Castle remained intact in the middle of a city turned into burning ruins."
• The castle is a poke-stop
• Roof tiles have the crests of various ruling houses and officials engraved onto them (and one has a secret cross, linked to an official who was a secret Christian)
• Himeji was the first castle in Japan to be marked as an UNESCO World Heritage Site
• "White Heron" comes from Himeji's other name: Hakuro

Concerning today, I went to classes, relaxed at home, did some homework, and was almost robbed by a crow. I know they are smart and have good memories, but luckily, I never come home that time of day on Mondays and have been taking a different path so all should be well. I talked with my host family and, at first, I thought the bird may have been trying to get one of my shiny key chains, but that has never happened before and I haven't heard other people saying their key chains were subject to a crow's fancy. Then I remembered: the crow swooped the side of my backpack without the key chains and that my backpack was slightly open, revealing my plastic bag with my gym clothes. This is relevant because my host dad said the crows tend to group on Mondays since Tuesdays are a trash day - the bird must have thought that I had food easily accessible. Either way, I quickened my pace, altered the position of my backpack, and frequently checked on the bird's location (it hopped from wire to wire, following me for a bit). It was kind of scary - but my host parents said that it was super rare and, as I said, I won't be on that path on this day at that time of day again and definitely not with any plastic bags exposed! Honestly, I thought it had accidentally almost flew into me, but then it flew super close a second time and I started chastising it...in Japanese. The language is getting to me.

Either way, Himeji was an amazing trip and I loved the group I went with - there was great energy and I feel like we all really bonded. It was a good size and the city, castle, and gardens were just gorgeous.