Road Trip: 1st stop Himeji Castle

People say if you only see one castle in Japan, make it Himeji Castle!  Said to be the most magnificent of the original surviving castles, with the current structure dating from 1588.  There have been fortifications made since 1333, and currently they are doing major fortifications to the structure to help it withstand just about anything nature throws at it.  They started in April of this year and it is said to last until 2015.  Despite all the scaffolding, it still makes the top of our "Japan Road Trip Favorites" so we had to take the Chief.  Yes we also took my mom when she came out in July and Zack & I took the boys before all the construction started in April so we could really compare the finished product.  So I will throw in some of those photos too so you can see it sans scaffolding : )

This is from April, as you can see from our clothes it's a little colder, right at the construction was starting.  As you can see, it's a very large castle, sometimes referred to as Shirasagi, or the White Heron.

This is the Chief, me, and Holden on the bridge and you can see the main gate to the right.  The scaffolding now covers the outside of the castle, so we waited until we got closer before we tried to get any photos of the castle.

Here, the Chief, Holden and I are standing outside one of the inner walls.  Now you know why they refer to it is as the "white" heron!

This is a photo of one of the gates through an inner wall.  People tell us Holden is tall for a 2 year old, but this gate was definitely made for shorter people!  The white sign in the middle of the door way was to help those over 2 years old pass through concussion-free.  Although the doorway was short, notice how large the stones are for the wall (initially, I wanted Holden to stand by the stones to see how big they were, then I noticed just how short the gate really was).

The inner walls are all dotted with triangular, square, and round little windows for firing guns & shooting arrows.  Holden, Hos, and I tried to stick our heads out, but it was tricky to get very far, even Holden's shoulders got in the way!

The walls on the inside of the main castle are covered with places to put weapons.  Hooks were placed high on the walls to allow for weapons to be kept out of the way, yet still accessible.  And some walls were just lined with from top to bottom with weapons.

This is a photo from the main tower looking out towards the west bailey, which is where the princess and her entourage lived.  Did I mention this castle is HUGE!  So, although we didn't get to explore it as fully as the Chief wanted, there was still plenty to enjoy!  Perhaps he'll come back in 2015 so he can see the full castle!