Sunday, June 06, 2004
Himeji-jo

I had Friday off and it was a beautiful day... so I decided to go to the city of Himeji on a solo adventure - the main attraction being Himeji-jo (Himeji Castle). I've never visited it before, but I figured, why not?

After about a one hour train ride from Kobe, and came out of the station and *bam*... there it was in the distance.




Outside gate.


A view of the castle from inside the outer wall.




Doggy door? Nope... try medieval sniper spot. These were all over the walls.


An interesting detail pointed out by a sign... the center roof tile bears a Christian cross. After the Tokugawa Shogunate banned Christianity from Japan, Christians hid their symbols...


The path up to the main tower.


Weapon racks for rifles and spears in the tower.


Samurai armor.


A view of Himeji city from the top floor.


Main tower again.


Since the castle is pretty old, there's lots of interesting small stories. The structure on the right is an old well.

During the reign of one of lords of the castle, there was a conspiracy to murder him by one of his top aides. A lady-in-waiting overheard the plot, but before she could reveal the full details to her lover (another top aide to the castle's lord) she was falsely accused of stealing (they knew she knew), immediately executed, and her body was secretly thrown into the well. Shortly after, a haunting, wailing sound could be heard from the well...

The wailing sound continued until lady's lover took revenge on her killers and defeated the conspirators in a battle inside the castle. After winning the battle, the lord of the castle and the lady's lover retrieved her body from the well. Grateful for her sacrfice, they buried her body at at a local shrine with full honors. The mysterious wailing from the well then stopped...


Shot of the castle from the moat.


Gar was here.

For a history of Himeji... check these out. Himeji Castle is also listed as a World Heritage site and it's considered a National Treasure - parts of it were also filmed in The Last Samurai.


.:.


Japan News

The latest talk of the town here in Japan... a 11-girl killing her 12 year old friend with a box cutter to the throat.

Police are still working out the details, but supposedly the girl was an admirer of "Battle Royale" and she bore a grudge against her friend for an insult written on a website... whoa.

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in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33

the facts.
name. Gar AKA "that Chinese guy" "Sleepy.McSleeping"
ethnicity/nationality. Chinese/American, 4th gen.
location. Sea-Town, WA, USA Kawanishi, JAPAN
occupation. less-cynical poor grad student
age. younger than you think, older than you know

 



 

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