Himeji

Den største bevarede borg befinder sig i Himeji, vest for Kobe. Her finder man vestlige turister oveni de mange japanske!
Borgen ligger højt på en bakketop, og ligner fx borgen jeg har set i Matsumoto.

In the modern age Himeji Castle and the whole castle town were surrounded with moats and earthworks. This form of the castle site was called ‘Sogamae’- Everything inside of the castle site was called Himeji in those days. According to their social classifications, the places where the pople lived were decided. Merchants lived inside the outer moat, the Samurai class lived inside the middle moat, and the main place where the lords and their families lived (called ‘Oshiro’ in those days) was inside the inner moat.

Himeji City was developed from a castle town. In the Meiji period, when they planned to build a railroad, they were not allowed to build it inside of the outer moat, so it was built to the south side of the moat. The place where JR Himeji Station is at present was the most southern part of the castle town of Himeji in the feudal times. Part of the original Sanyo Railway Line and its Himeji Station were built utilizing some earths and parts of the outer moat.

En tegners gengivelse af en situation sidst i 1800-tallet, hvor der både blev brugt bue og pil samt krudt og kugler!

Detaljer fra bygningsværket.

En stor yderfløj var forbeholdt fyrstens store familie. Her spiller to dukker (der forestiller prinsesser) vende-spil.

Lige vest for borgen er der genopført typiske anlæg fra samurai byggerier. Herunder ikke mindst haveanlæg, som jo danner skole for også nutidige haveanlæg. Nina og Annegrete poserer for fotografen.

Japanrejsen 2007 oversigtsside
Se fotos fra Pouls tur i 2005