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Himeji Castle

Hiking ·Himeji ·Closed
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About

Himeji Castle (White Egret Castle) on Himeyama hill in Himeji: regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture.

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Himeji Castle

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Why go

  • The main keep, which has six floors inside but looks like five from outside.
  • Roughly 1,000 loopholes in the surviving buildings, cut as circles, triangles, squares and rectangles.
  • The Salt Turret, a building used only to store salt.
  • The Waist Quarter warehouses, which once stored rice, salt and water for sieges.

Opening hours

Today09:00 – 16:00Show all
Monday09:00 – 16:00
Tuesday09:00 – 16:00
Wednesday09:00 – 16:00
Thursday09:00 – 16:00
Friday09:00 – 16:00
Saturday09:00 – 16:00
Sunday09:00 – 16:00

The trail

length
325 m A winding route from Hishi Gate to the main keep; only 130 m in a straight line.
difficulty
Steep: a nearly vertical ladder with round rungs leads to the upper floor.
start
Hishi Gate, the first gate of the complex.

Season and conditions

  • Open every day, 09:00 to 16:00.
  • Closed on 29 and 30 December.
  • The main keep admits only the first 15,000 visitors each day.

What you see

  • Himeyama hill stands 45.6 m above sea level, at the centre of Himeji.
  • Kōkoen garden beside the castle, created in 1992 to mark the city's centenary.
  • The Hishi Gate, the first gate, with a stone monument to Colonel Nakamura Shigeto inside.
  • The Salt Turret, used only for salt, with an estimated capacity of as many as 3,000 bags.
  • Warehouses in the Waist Quarter that once held rice, salt and water in case of a siege.
  • The Dressing Tower, added by Honda for his daughter-in-law, Princess Sen.
  • A millstone, said to have been given by an old woman, is visible under wire netting in one of the castle walls.
  • The alleged Okiku's Well, linked to Okiku, the character in the Dish Mansion ghost story.
  • 13 of the 33 wells in the inner moat survive; the deepest is 30 m deep.
  • The Three Country Moat, a 2,500 m² pond inside the castle, partly meant to store water for fire prevention.

Facilities

  • Card, e-money and QR payment at entry Entry tickets can be paid in cash, by card, or with many e-money and QR code apps.
  • English guided tour Free when a guide is available; no reservations are possible.
  • Loop bus around the castle area Retro-style buses on the loop tell riders about the history of the town.

History

At the end of the Edo period, the castle was one of the last strongholds of tozama daimyo. After it was abandoned in 1871, some corridors and gates were torn down to make room for barracks. Army colonel Nakamura Shigeto helped save the castle from demolition, and preservation efforts began in 1877. The residence was demolished after 1868, but the defenses around the keep survive. The castle came through the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake virtually undamaged. In 2010–2015 the roofs and walls were renovated, restoring the soiled roofs to their original white.

  1. 1333Akamatsu Norimura builds the first fort on Himeyama hill; his son Sadanori later turns it into a castle.
  2. 1580Toyotomi Hideyoshi takes over the castle and has three-storey towers built.
  3. 1601–1609After Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu gives the castle to Ikeda Terumasa, who rebuilds and expands it from 1601 to 1609.
  4. 1868A new government army is sent to evict the castle's last occupants.
  5. 1910Government funding for restoration arrives, and the main tower is renovated.
Show all
  1. 1945The castle survives the bombing almost intact, except for a few impacts.
  2. 1993UNESCO recognises the castle as a World Heritage Site, one of the first in Japan.
  3. 2010–2015Major renovation closes the main tower; the castle reopens to the public in 2015.

How to get there

  • 20 minOn footAbout 20 minutes on foot from JR Himeji and Sanyo Himeji stations.
  • 5 minOn footShinki bus from the North Exit of Himeji Station to the Otemon-mae stop, then a five-minute walk.
  • 30 minTrainSanyo Shinkansen from Shin Osaka, about 30 minutes.
  • 20 minTrainShinkansen from Okayama, about 20 minutes.
  • 85 minTrainLocal line from Okayama, about 1 hour 25 minutes.
  • 60 minTrainJR Kobe Line special rapid from Osaka, about one hour.
  • 40 minTrainJR Kobe Line from Sannomiya, about 40 minutes.
  • 60 minTrainHanshin express from Sannomiya, about one hour.
  • 15 minCarFrom Tohori Ramp on the Chugoku Expressway, about 15 minutes.
  • 15 minCarFrom Hanada IC on the Sanyo Expressway, about 15 minutes.
  • 30 minCarFrom Himeji Nishi IC, about 30 minutes.

Accessibility

  • Slippers provided; shoes come off at the entrance Visitors remove their shoes at the entrance and wear slippers.
  • Route marked through the grounds Even with the route marked, many visitors struggle to find their way around.

Shorts

Sources: Himeji Castle - Wikipedia · Himeji - Wikivoyage (see) · The World Cultural Heritage: The National Treas… · 世界文化遺産・国宝 姫路城 便覧 · 世界文化遗产 国宝 姬路城 · Burg Himeji - Wikipedia · Château de Himeji - Wikipedia · checked 19 Oct 2026

Where
670-0012 68 Hommachi, Himeji

Plan from here: Evening walk →

Questions and answers

Which castles is Himeji Castle counted among?

It is one of the three premier castles of Japan, alongside Matsumoto and Kumamoto.

Is Himeji Castle the largest castle in Japan?

Yes, it is the largest castle in the country.

Was Himeji Castle ever attacked?

No. It was never attacked, so its maze of paths remains untested.

Has Himeji Castle appeared in films?

Yes, including You Only Live Twice (1967), Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985).

What is the address of Himeji Castle?

68 Hommachi, Himeji, postcode 670-0012.

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