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| Himeji Castle |
En route from Kyoto to our next place, Kobe, we stopped off at Himeji to visit its highly revered castle, and to see the cherry blossom. Both the castle, known as the White Heron, and the cherry blossom are beautiful in their own right, but together, they are truly stunning.
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| Himeji Castle |
There has been a castle here since around 1350, but the current one was constructed in the early 1600s. It survived World War II, despite the town itself being devastated. When we visited, they had just reopened, after a five year restoration period.
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| Himeji Castle |
Of course this reopening, together with the lure of the cherry blossom, meant that visiting was extremely popular, so the castle was incredibly busy.
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| Himeji Castle |
We did manage to get in, eventually, but we were literally shuffling around, in the kind of crowds that you usually only see on the London underground in rush hour; it was shoulder to shoulder, and you had to watch out for the little old ladies trying to push you out of their way.
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| Himeji Castle |
Personally, I wasn't that impressed with the inside. It likely would have been more enjoyable if it were less crowded, or if you had a particular interest in Japanese castles, but for me, I could happily have given the inside a miss and just focussed on the outside.
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| Himeji Castle |
There are some interesting features though. The white plaster that covers it is made from a traditional method of slaked lime, shell ash, hemp fibre and seaweed. There are spaces at the corners to hide warriors for an ambush, and platforms from which to throw stones at the enemy.
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| Abura-kabe wall, Himeji Castle |
And there is one remaining Abura-Kabe wall, from the late 1500s, which is made from a mix of mountain soil, pea gravel, rice-washing water and rice porridge.
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| Himeji Castle |
Back outside, we wandered amongst the cherry blossom, watching the Japanese excitedly having their Sakura picnics on the blue tarpaulin, and taking even more photos than I did.
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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| Himeji Castle |
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