One of the highlights of our recent travels was being able to visit Japan’s four official Heritage Castles with our friends Heather and Jeremy. Back in 2005 we went to Matsumoto castle in Nagano Prefecture. That was our first original Japanese castle. It was so amazing to visit a castle that wasn’t a concrete reconstruction. Most of Japan’s castles were either bombed during World War II or were burnt down some time in history.
When we knew that Heather and Jeremy were coming, I researched the location of the other three castles that Japan has declared National Treasures. They were all fairly close.

Inuyama Castle
This small castle is only about 15 minutes away by train and Damien and I had already visited it a couple of times. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the Kiso river. The open air balcony on the top level allows wide vistas of the area. The grounds are covered with small temples and shrines. Like all original castles the inside structure is all wood and the solid beams used inside are mind boggling. To think of how big some of the trees must have been, and then to wonder how they managed to build such a structure with them!
This castle was the last castle to remain in private hands and was just donated to the city of Inuyama a few years ago. This is the oldest castle in Japan, being built in the mid-1500s.

Himeji Castle
This is the grand-daddy of all Japanese castles. It is the only castle that is also an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is massive compared to all others and it towers over the town of Himeji. It is often called the White Heron due to its sweeping, white architecture. The grounds are made up of meandering pathways and T-junctions meant to confuse anyone trying to storm the castle. The inside of the castle was made of the most beautiful and aromatic cypress beams. We had to climb up and then down 6 or 7 very steep stairways to reach the top. As with other castles from this time, there were no living quarters inside. The main tower was used for weapons storage, business transactions and meetings. There would have been more buildings outside or even a palace on the grounds for actual living. Himeji still retains the living quarters meant for the ladies of the castle.
It was so very, very hot this day!! It was amazing how cool the inside of the castle was though and how great the breezes were rushing in through the windows. One interesting thing we learned about this castle was that in the mid-20th century it was completely taken apart and re-inforced with 2 HUGE beams of wood to replace the old ones. We just can’t imagine the logistics of such an undertaking!! Many movies have been filmed here such as Ran, Shogun and The Last Samurai.

Hikone Castle
This is the least known and visited of the 4 castles (esp. by non-Japanese). It is a little bit out of the way and not famous. It is also the smallest of the four. But it made up for that in other ways! The outside is a beautiful contrast of black and white with bright gold accents. The inside is made up of naturally irregular tree trunks that were used because of their curvature to create a stunning criss-cross of ceiling beams with a strong scent of cypress. There were only three floors but the view from the top was of the mountains surrounding Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan. The Ii family were the lords of this castle in the old days. Naosuke Ii was the most famous of these lords. He was the Shogun’s right-hand man in 1853 when Commodore Perry came to Japan. Against the wishes of many, Naosuke Ii signed the agreement to open Japan to the rest of the world. He ended up killing many who opposed him and created a civil war in the process that led to the dismantling of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In 1867 the last Shogun, Yoshinobu, gave the country back to the Emperor. We were luckly enough to stay a night in a very special inn on the grounds of the castle that I will write about in a forthcoming email.

So, now the four of us have visited the greatest castles in Japan!