We are in Himeji, Japan mostly because of the beautiful castle at the end of Main Street. But we stayed two nights because it is also a good place from which to make day trips. When Denisa put together our itinerary, she had us hopping all over the country with mostly one-night stays. But we got two nights here in order to make yesterday's trip to Hiroshima, and then today's castle trip possible. Her focus was not having to take our luggage with us when touring a new area, and we have found that all of our lodging places allow us to leave our luggage at the desk after our last night's stay. That is a very handy option to have, and we used it many times this trip.
While we talk about our lodging, we should also show the sink/shower option that we have seen in most of our rooms. They have contraptions like the one pictured below that changes the water supply between the shower and sink using the lever on the right. We especially liked this one because the lever on the left turned the water automatically on to a warm temperature. They have less plumbing in each room, but we have learned that you can't brush your teeth while your partner is in the shower.
The last morning here in Himeji we left our luggage at the desk and walked toward the castle. Every castle has a moat, and this one was beautiful this morning with the reflection of the trees in the water.
Mark walked through the tall gate and we were officially on the castle grounds,
and we could see the many buildings of the beautiful Himeji Castle high on the hill.
It's 45 minutes before the castle opens, so we have time to wander around the grounds to see a display of tiny bonsai trees.
Because it is fall, there were also chrysanthemums set up in several areas. It looked like there had been a competition for the biggest and prettiest mums, and these were the winners.
The castle doesn't open until 9:00, but it was a beautiful morning to be early and get to enjoy the view of the castle. Nicknamed the "White Heron," most guidebooks list it as the most beautiful original wooden castle in the country. Most of the old castles have been destroyed by fire or storms, and then replaced by some concrete versions. So Himeji's Castle is at the top of most Japan itineraries.
We were in the first group of tourists up the path towards the main keep. "Main Keep" is castle talk for the biggest dominate section of the castle. There are three other smaller keeps to this castle as well.
Like so many other places in Japan, Himeji Castle has been undergoing restoration, and for the last three years the main keep has literally been under wraps so no one could visit here. Since it opened recently, the crowds have been huge. We were lucky to be here when it opened at 9:00, because by 10:00 they were making announcements like, "We are controlling the number of visitors allowed into the castle."
We had thought about visiting Japan in the spring, when its famous cherry blossoms are in bloom. However, we have enjoyed the fall foliage this trip, so we would highly recommend this time of year as well. This one confused cherry tree outside the castle blessed us with a few cherry blossoms this morning.
The cherry blooms showed up even better from an upper window of the castle. Obviously lots of people were fascinated by this glimpse of spring on a beautiful day in November.
Like all the temples and houses in Japan, shoes are not allowed inside the castle. They provide bags to carry them through the building, since you exit at a different door. We had to buy new socks before this trip, because holy socks are a great embarrassment in Japan, and people get to see your socks a lot.
We like 3D maps and this big one shows what the castle grounds looked like in its heyday. At one time there were 3 moats and 3 walls that encircled many acres. Today, the castle grounds are limited to the inner-most smaller circle shown on the hill.
There is a self-guided route that visitors take, with good English and Japanese signage. We had just started on the first floor when this Japanese man with a volunteer name tag asked if we were in a hurry, and if we would like a guide. We assumed he would show us a few things on this first floor and we gladly agreed. Here he is pointing out the solid wood construction and the reason for the angle of the corners. At least we think that is what he is saying. We could understand about one out of every five of his English words with a fast and heavy Japanese accent.
He adopted us for the entire tour, and we were the only visitors with a personal guide. He climbed up those steep stairs all the way to the fifth floor with us. He pointed out that samurai climbed these same steps wearing 50 pounds of armor and weapons. He talked about the people that had lived here (we think). He also pointed out that this pillar is the original solid piece of wood that reaches from the basement to the fifth floor and has been here since its construction in 1333. He pointed out holes in the castle walls that were used for shooting arrows, firing guns, and pouring boiling oil onto attackers outside. Actually, we had read most of these facts before we entered the castle so that helped us to figure out what our host was explaining to us.
At the end of our tour, we offered to pay our guide. But he explained that he was a volunteer, coming a couple days each week to help English-speaking tourists through the castle. He had been delightful, and he wouldn't take any money. Quite the contrary, he presented each of us with an origami star to take home. He smiled when we asked if he made it himself No, his wife folds and sends them with him each week to give as gifts. What a great keepsake!
One of the castle's best forms of defense was its position at the top of the hill. You can barely see Denisa at the base of the rock wall that it sits upon.
We also had tickets to tour the castle gardens, filled with stone bridges and koi ponds.
Just as in Kyoto, we saw traditionally-dressed couples enjoying the beautiful weather in the gardens. You will notice that both men and women where those wooden-soled version of flip flaps.
The fall colors were beautiful here, and we commented that it was meticulously groomed.
About that time we entered another section of the garden, where the gardeners were up in the trees, pruning individual pine needles. It was the most manicured garden we have ever seen!
We walked back through town to pick up our luggage at the hotel. We have joked that the city of Himeji should be nicknamed "the naked sculpture" city. Most of them were of very curvy females, but we will include this one of a male saxophone player instead. Mark did wonder why all the women were thin, while the only male statue looked like he had been enjoying an American diet.
In Nagoya we changed trains for a wide-view Hida train that would take us up into the mountains. We had read that 80% of this country is covered with mountains, and we were glad to get to see some of the tallest of them. Called the most beautiful train rides in Japan, the views are filled with gorgeous views of deep gorges and tall mountains. After the smooth ride of the shinkansen, this local train swayed side to side. It would have put us to sleep, but the scenery was too good to sleep through. We tried to take pictures, but the lighting and the electrical wires were always a problem and we ended up deleting all but this one.
After so much time in the city, it was nice to be in the country, seeing some agricultural land, small towns, and miles with no people at all. After seeing miles of pine forest, we realized that there seemed to be no pine beetles in Japan. Their trees look very healthy, and we realized sadly that it had been a while since we had seen a healthy forest. We arrived at our destination of Takayama as it was getting dark. We made our way to K's House Hostel, where we had a private room that looked very much like our hotel room last night. We did notice that the doors going into the rooms were a little short, as they aren't used to visitors that are six feet tall.
We walked to a local bakery for a round loaf of whole wheat bread to eat for breakfast. We also accidentally bought a custard-filled roll and some milk for a snack that night. We are glad to be in the mountains again, looking forward to some nice hiking tomorrow!
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