Himeji Castle

Monday was another beautiful day for traveling! Lara and I headed to Himeji Castle to see the "White Heron." It was my third visit there and it was just as impressive the third time around! The castle and grounds are enormous. An hour after we started our tour we were just entering the castle itself. It was like being at Niagara Falls again, we couldn't stop taking pictures! I was most facinated this time with the windows and roofs. Here are a few samples of pictures:






This is one of the first windows we came to, a rectangle in the wall with a nice view of the top of the wall which looks like a roof...










This is a window in the wall for protection. If someone was trying to climb up the wall the guards would throw rocks or hot water out this window to knock them down.











This is just a variety of roofs looking out the window of the bailey, a word I just learned on Monday!






Here is a triangle window in the wall.




The circles on the edges of the roof each had different pictures representing the different clans who ruled there. The butterfly was one of my favorites.






Looking out the windows on the top level we could see a variety of levels of roofs.


Lara and I decided this is a must see for those who come to Japan. If you want to read more about what we have been doing, as well as Lara's other travels, check out her blog linked in the margin.