Himeji Castle, often hailed as Japan’s most elegant and best-preserved feudal castle, is a masterpiece of design, both inside and out. This article explores the architectural features of the main keep and its surrounding structures, offering a glimpse into the complex layering of beauty, defense, and symbolism that defines the castle. From the sweeping plaster walls and curving gables of the exterior to the tapered support beams and warrior pathways within, every detail speaks to the craftsmanship and cultural values of its time. The small castle towers and watariyagura corridors further expand on this legacy, blending functionality with refined aesthetic choices unique to Himeji.
The first part about the history and name meaning can be found at this link.
Exploring the Grounds: A Walk Through Time
Visitors to Himeji Castle will find that its beauty is not only in its grand structure but also in the surrounding grounds. The castle is nestled within a spacious park, featuring expansive gardens, scenic walking paths, and the Himeji City Museum of Art, which adds to the area’s cultural richness. During spring, the castle’s gardens come alive with cherry blossoms, creating a stunning contrast against the white stone walls.
Himeji Castle was constructed by skillfully using the natural features of Mount Himeyama and Mount Sagiyama, nestled between the Yumesaki and Ichikawa Rivers on the western side of the Harima Plain. The region was a lively hub for transportation and logistics, with the Saigoku Kaido stretching east to west, the Shikama and Nozato Kaido running north to south, and Shikama Port (now Himeji Port) lying to the south.
The castle is a flatland structure centered on Himeyama, where the main keep stands, and Sagiyama, where the Nishinomaru (western bailey) is located. The surrounding landscape was used to develop a complex layout that included the castle town. The inner moat spans 465 meters from east to west and 543 meters from north to south. The outer moat extends much farther, measuring 1,418 meters from east to west and 1,854 meters from north to south. Starting from the northeastern foot of Himeyama, the moat loops counterclockwise toward Nozato, with a total length of about 12.5 kilometers. The structure features three concentric moats: the inner moat, the middle moat, and the outer moat, forming a spiraling layout. Focusing only on the inner area reveals a tiered-style design. However, the outer moat does not form a complete loop and ends in the north near Nozato, which is seen as a structural weakness. Historical records suggest this may have resulted from Terumasa Ikeda’s inability to assert control over the Akutagawa clan, who held influence in that area during the castle’s reconstruction. A defense plan created during the Sakakibara era, known as the “Himeji Castle Defense Formation Map”, includes contingency plans to extend the moat in the event of an emergency.
In more recent history, the eastern central moat, which had been dry since the Showa period, was restored to a water moat in 1992. The northern central moat was similarly restored in 1998 and again in 2007. Today, water for the moat is sourced from the Senba River and circulated using pumps every five days.
A beloved sight in all seasons, I wanted to visit during cherry blossom seasons!
The Layout of the Castle
Gates were strategically positioned to divide and protect the enclosures. The inner bailey featured many gates, with one gate placed approximately every eight city blocks. Broadly speaking, the inner bailey was the core of the castle, containing the main keep, turrets, and palatial buildings. The middle bailey was home to samurai residences, and the outer bailey included the castle town with commoners’ homes and temples. These elements were enclosed within the castle’s defenses, making Himeji one of the rare Japanese castles to fully incorporate a town within its walls during the Edo period. Other examples of this integrated design include Edo and Odawara Castles. After the Meiji Restoration, many parts of the castle were dismantled and moats filled in to accommodate modernization and military development. However, remnants of the outer and middle moats and stone walls still survive, and some of the gate names live on in modern landmarks, such as the Takenomon intersection on National Route 372 and the Nozatomon Post Office along the Nozato Kaido. The outer bailey’s southern edge reached as far as present-day Himeji Station, which was constructed in 1888 on the former southern edge of the outer moat, along the path of the old Sanyo Railway.
The passageways leading through the inner bailey are intentionally complex, winding like a maze with sections that alternate between wide and narrow. These routes were designed to prevent a direct approach to the main keep. The layout appears to incorporate the natural terrain as well as elements from the earlier castle built during Hideyoshi’s time. Some gates are so narrow that only one person can pass through at a time, and they’re placed in ways that create confusion and disrupt movement. This strategic design served a defensive purpose—meant to disorient intruders, break up their formation, and expose them to attacks from both sides at dead ends.
The construction of Himeji Castle under Terumasa Ikeda took place in the politically tense period between the Battle of Sekigahara and the Siege of Osaka. This context shaped its design, which combines functionality with stately elegance, reinforcing Terumasa’s authority as the “Shogun of the Western Provinces”. After the castle’s completion, the Tokugawa Shogunate introduced strict regulations, including the 1615 “One Castle per Province” law and the Buke Shohatto, which forbade new castle construction or significant renovations without shogunate approval. As a result, no other feudal lord attempted to build anything on the scale of Himeji Castle again.
Fee for entering Himeji Castle currently stand at 1200 yen, and will be raised in 2026 for all non-residents of the city.
The Main Keep of Himeji Castle
Himeji Castle’s main keep is one of only twelve castle towers in Japan that have survived in their original form since the Edo period, and it is the largest among them—serving as a powerful symbol of the city. The keep is built atop Mount Himeyama, which rises 45.6 meters above sea level. The stone base adds another 14.85 meters, while the structure itself stands 31.5 meters tall, bringing the total elevation to 92 meters. The keep currently weighs around 5,700 tons. In the past, it was estimated to weigh about 6,200 tons, but during the Showa-era restoration, older reinforcement materials were removed and lighter replacements such as new tiles were used to reduce the load. Although the keep once displayed historical items related to the castle, these were moved to the Nishinomaru during the Heisei-era restoration, leaving the interior of the main keep largely empty.
The first version of the main tower was built in 1580 by Hideyoshi Hashiba. It was a three-story structure located on the same site as the current main keep. When Terumasa Ikeda later took over, he dismantled this earlier tower and reused its materials in constructing the Inui small tower.
The current version of the castle keep was built by Ikeda Terumasa. It is a connected keep system, featuring a central five-tiered, six-story main tower with an additional basement level—making seven floors in total—linked to three smaller three-tiered towers: the East, West, and Inui small towers. These are joined by two-level connecting corridors. All towers follow the watchtower architectural style, built with double-tiered irimoya (hip-and-gable) roofs. This design reflects a late watchtower-type classification, based on both their structure and historical context. The walls are covered in thick white plaster, which was likely intended for fire resistance, gun protection, and visual impact. Decorative latticework adds to the detail of the folded-roof sections.
Due to the bedrock under the main keep, digging wells was not possible, so a water enclosure (Mizukuruwa) was created to allow for water transport between the central keep and the surrounding Koshikuruwa area. A series of gates, numbered from Mizuichimon to Mizugomon, were built to manage this supply route.
The park surrounding Himeji Castle is popular for its cherry trees blooming at the end of March-beginning of April.
The Design
The main tower of Himeji Castle stands as an architectural masterpiece, with a complex and visually striking exterior. Most of the walls are finished in thick white plaster, giving the structure its iconic appearance while also providing protection against fire and gunfire. The roof design is particularly elaborate, featuring a mix of massive hipped gables that span multiple stories, gently curved karahafu, mountain-shaped chidorihafu, and decorative kenkyo. Windows on all levels—except the very top—are fitted with traditional wooden lattices.
On the first floor, the structure displays hipped roofs with square brackets on each side, and a gabled roof graces the center of the east side. Below it lies a four-bay lattice window, with stone drop windows placed in the northeast, southeast, and southwest corners. The second floor has a gabled roof and a five-bay lattice window at the center of the south side. Large intersecting gables appear on the east and west, connecting with the third floor’s roof structure. The third floor is marked by hipped gables on the south and north, creating a layered look. On the fourth floor, chidorihafu appear on the north and south, while kenkarahafu are featured on the east and west. The fifth and top floor is unique—the walls are constructed from solid wood with exposed pillars, and it features gables on all sides, with the east and west sides using a gabled roof and the north and south using eaves-style gables.
The Structure
Inside, the main tower is engineered to withstand the test of time and weight. Each floor and roof gradually tapers upward to help evenly distribute the load. Two central pillars run east to west from the basement up to the sixth floor, each originally crafted from timber with a base diameter of 95 cm and a total height of 24.6 meters. The western pillar was once a single piece but was broken and rejoined near the third floor. The eastern and western pillars are made of cedar, with detailed measurements and inscriptions dating some of the woodwork to between 1356 and 1401. Other structural elements use hardwoods such as zelkova, pine, and inuzakura. Thresholds and lintels are 12 inches wide and were originally fitted with Mairado-style doors, though no doors remain today.
The basement level, measuring about 11.5 ken east-west and 8.5 ken north-south, is known as the “cave”. It houses a wash area, a kitchen, and three toilets. Interestingly, in accordance with samurai custom, the toilets were placed facing the “demon’s gate”—a direction traditionally considered unlucky—as a show of fearlessness and readiness to confront misfortune.
The first floor hosts the I-no-Watari-Yagura on the north side connects the main keep to the East Small Tower, while the N-no-Watari-Yagura on the west links it to the West Small Tower. The second floor closely mirrors the first and includes a warrior’s corridor running along the outer perimeter, with racks for guns, spears, and other weapons.
The third floor is slightly smaller and features a musahashiri (walkway), as well as several small hidden rooms called musha-gakushi and gable rooms. An intermediate shelf near the windows, called an ishiuchidana, helps compensate for the high window placement. The fourth floor has two gabled rooms on each side equipped with racks for armor and another set of stone shelves.
The fifth floor maintains the same dimensions as the fourth but contains a single large hall, essentially the attic of the previous floor. It is also where large pillars extend up to the ceiling. The sixth and final floor is the smallest and sits a level higher than the main entrance path. This room lacks a central pillar and incorporates Shoin-zukuri design features, including nageshi and sao-en ceilings. It also houses the Nagakabe Shrine and displays a Chinese-style poem by Rai Sanyo, which reflects on the castle’s elegance and its deep historical ties to the region and its warriors.
Altogether, the interior of Himeji Castle’s main tower is not only an architectural feat but also a physical embodiment of strategic design, historical continuity, and artistic beauty.
The smaller castle towers were as important and majestic as the main one.
The Small Castle Towers
The smaller castle towers of Himeji Castle, along with the connecting Watariyagura corridors, serve both functional and aesthetic purposes, complementing the grandeur of the main keep. The top floors of the three small towers are designed in a refined shoin-style, featuring dovetail-patterned walls and saruho ceilings with their distinct bell-shaped curves.
Bell-shaped fire windows are a notable feature of the upper levels of the West Small Castle Tower and the Inui Small Castle Tower. These windows, commonly found in late-period watchtower-style keeps such as those at Hikone Castle and Matsue Castle, reflect both defensive functionality and a sophisticated design sense. The fire windows on the Inui Small Castle Tower are intentionally left without bars, based on the aesthetic philosophy that incomplete forms hold greater potential—the idea that “when things are full, the rest fades away”. Originally, these windows were concealed under plaster and remained invisible until the repairs conducted during the Showa era uncovered them.
East Small Castle Tower
Located to the northeast of the main keep area known as Tenshumaru, the East Small Tower has three above-ground floors and a basement level. Unlike the West and Inui towers, it does not include fire windows or eaves gables. At the time of its construction, it was referred to as Ushitora Yagura.
Inui Small Castle Tower
Positioned northwest of Tenshumaru, the Inui Small Tower consists of four stories in total: three floors above ground and one basement. Initially called Inui Yagura, it is believed by some historians to be the reconstructed version of a three-story tower originally built by Hideyoshi. Supporting this theory, wooden materials from the Hideyoshi era were identified as having been reused during the Showa Great Repair.
West Small Castle Tower
Standing to the southwest of Tenshumaru, the West Small Tower has three floors above ground and two basement levels. This tower also includes a water gate, making it functionally unique among the small keeps. When first constructed, it was named Hitsujisaru Yagura. Restoration work on the West Tower was completed in 2002, preserving both its structure and historical significance.
Visiting Himeji Castle
A visit to Himeji Castle offers an unforgettable experience, whether you’re a history buff, folklore enthusiast, or simply in search of a beautiful location to explore. The castle is easily accessible by train from major cities like Osaka and Kyoto, making it a perfect day trip for travelers. With its stunning architecture, breathtaking views, and rich cultural significance, Himeji Castle is a must-see destination on any journey through Japan.
