Himeji - Jo

On our 1st trip to Himeji-jo we arrived at 4pm, just as they took in the last visitors. Lucky for us there was an English tour guide available, and he did his best to show us the majority of the castle in a 1 hour speed tour, while also entertaining us with stories. This time our trip began as an early morning run on the express train.It was going to be a long day going to both Himeji & Hiroshima and we wanted to arrive as early as possible. We timed it to arrive at the station at 9:30 so we could make our walk up to the castle by 10:00 am. One guidebook said that the castle opened at 9:00 and another, more up to date book, said 10:00. So,we got there at 10:00; an hour after opening.

On this trip we weren’t lucky enough to have a guide, so Chrissy and I did our best to guide Jess through the castle with the same stories that the guide had told us back in September. At every corner Chrissy would ask imitating our guide, “Do you think this is the right way into the castle? It’s a trick! This is not the right way.” As she would direct us in the right direction.

Arriving earlier also gave us an opportunity to include a walk through a section of the castle wall, which housed the princess’ quarters, which we didn't have time for last visit. This part of the castle is really a hallway with battle stations to the exterior of the castle wall and rooms on the interior side.

This time through, I was able to read some of the simple Kanji. So I could read her the names of the gates and the pillars inside the castle. This is really a difficult task since many of the gates are named ‘water’ as a precaution against fire.

Once we made it to the castle we were able to tell her many of the stories that the guide had told us. I only messed up on the story of the young maid who was thrown down the well. I turned much of the story around and told her the story in front of the wrong well, too. When we found the correct well there was a plaque that had the story written on it in English.

The reason she was killed was as a lover of the lord of the castle she had taken part in a conspiracy to have him overthrown. At the last minute she confessed her role and saved the lord. Even with her turn around she was sentenced to death on the pretext that she broken some of the castle’s best dishes. Legend has it that after she was killed her voice could be heard counting the unbroken dishes at the bottom of the well, “Ichi, ni, san, yon. . .” This was a sign of her innocence and only ceased once the lord made amends for her death.

After our tour of Himeji-jo we caught the Shinkansen for our ride to Hiroshima.