Himeji Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Standing on Himeyama hill in the heart of Himeji (Hyōgo Prefecture), Himeji Castle is the largest Japanese castle complex to survive with its original structures. Its great wooden keep, completed in 1609, is linked to three smaller keeps by covered passages, forming a remarkably coherent defensive core. Its white plastered walls earned it the nickname "White Heron Castle" (Shirasagi-jō). The site went through several stages: a first medieval fort in the 14th century, a stronghold remodelled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1581, and the complete rebuilding carried out by Ikeda Terumasa between 1601 and 1609 after the Battle of Sekigahara. The Honda, Matsudaira, Sakakibara and Sakai families, all close to the Tokugawa shogunate, later held it in turn. The keep is a National Treasure, and in 1993 the castle became one of the first two Japanese properties inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Two major restoration campaigns (1956-1964 and 2009-2015) have preserved its timber frame and plasterwork.