17 August, Himeji Castle.

          Built on previous fortifications, Himeji Castle, the one you see today, was erected in 1580 by the behest of Toyotomi Hideoshi, a very important dude in the history of Japan. For those not bored to read, Hideoshi was one of three great 'Shoguns' able to reunite all of Japan under one state. The other two dudes are Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
         The latter, in particular, consolidated not only a single Japanese nation with Edo capital, but also the way Japanese people should see themselves, imposing immutable social classes, refusal of any contact with the continent or foreign, introduction of ceremonies for anything, labels and coded behaviors up even to how to go in the toilet.
         I wonder if the reason why toilets in Japan have a whole bunch of buttons for various use as water jets, music accompanied by canary songs, scented sprays comes from Tokugawa's impositions.

          Returning to Himeji Castle, a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1993, it is nicknamed 'shirasagi' which means 'white heron' for the immaculate white that cover all the structure.
          For me, seeing the main tower from below, it looks like a big white reared up cockroach. Maybe because for the sets of tiles wedged in each other until you get to those of the roof edge, which in the corners they rise or 'rear up'.
         In the explanatory panels it was highlighted the originality of this carpenter technique, which would have reduced the infiltration of water into the tower. In the panel it was also explained the model of each built tile, the material used, the coats of arms that were affixed to the edges of the roof.     
         'All very interesting'. Would say a Chinese man with his 1500 euro camera.



        The plan of the entire castle is quite asymmetrical. There is a main tower and five smaller towers surrounding it on different elevations.

          Compared to the medieval European castles,where the towers are integral parts of the dwelling areas of the lords and his family, in the Japanese ones the tower is almost uninhabited. There is usually an altar on the top floor. So if the tower is high, it is an immense effort to climb it every day, morning and evening, to pray at it. In addition, the stairs that give access to the various floors are very steep and many times you have to bow your head to move from one floor to another. Every time you go to pray, you get out tired and hunchbacked.
           Ask to the Chinese with his camera of 1500 euros.

         Then the Heimeji tower has a particular characteristic. From outside it looks like there are only five floors, but once inside there are seven. Surprise!

          Weapons were kept in some rooms on the second and third floors. On the ground floor there was usually a garrison of soldiers to check that no one could enter or leave the tower without warning. On the fourth, fifth and sixth floors, there should have been some rooms for the reception of high rank officers, or for events of great importance, others to preserve food and things alike in case of continuous attacks.
          However, the information panels focused on enhancing the beauty of the main pillars, the exceptional of the lintels, the efficiency of the windows. So I don't know.

       

       
          A curious thing I noticed. In each floor there was a series of vents, or small opening, to let out the air. If they were put in the bathrooms, it's obvious what air we're talking about, but inside the halls of the tower it's not so obvious.
          Perhaps, you will think, when the tower is under siege and all the people of the castle gather there for the extreme and last defense, you need to evacuate the smell of farts, piss or sweat that could easily escape when you are about to die.
         Well you've been close. In fact, those vents served indeed under siege, not for those kinds of smells, but for the gunpowder smoke from weapons used against the besiegers.

         Now we come to the lodgings.
         The lords and his family lived in the small towers that have grown like mushrooms around the main tower. Obviously all the small towers are connected with a series of tunnels to the main tower. In the case of siege, that was the place where everyone should have to gather. Some kind of emergency exit, that was no exit at all, since once you were stuck in that tower, you were done escaping.
         Nevertheless the Japanese sieges almost never ended up with the destruction of the towers. More simply, the besieged were asked to do  harakiri (voluntary suicide) once they had surrendered. So the tower remained intact.

        Of the five turrets, the most famous is the one nicknamed the 'cosmetic' tower. Named after it not because there were cosmetics to see or to sell, but because it was the official residence of Princess Sen.

         It seems that the story of Sen's life is very well known in Japan.
         Granddaughter of Tokugawa (the dude of toilet code) she was at the age of seven, ONLY at the age of seven, given in marriage with Hideoshi's son (the dude who founded the castle).
         Guess how old that 'pig' was?
         Eleven! He was eleven years old.
         Let's say the union wasn't based on love at first sight. However, the two fall in love, or if not, they liked a lot to play hide-and-seek together, and at twenty years of Age Sen's husband got defeated along with her father in the famous siege of Osaka Castle. As a result, both committed harakiri.  Sen managed to escape. And after a year she did not fall in love but was added as a wife to Tadakori Honda, the son of the lord of Himeji in those years.
         Sen's early years were practically to be a furniture of the bedroom, but then a son and a daughter came, and love sprang again in her heart. Those were happy years for her and her family, who often resided in the cosmetic tower. Or rather Sen and his daughter, with other women, they had to stay there while the males had accommodation on the opposite side.
         Just to give an idea of separation between man and woman, the door that closed the cosmetic tower was as thick as that one that closed the gates in the castle walls.

         Returning to the story of Sen. Happiness is short. Her three-year-old son died under mysterious circumstances and soon after her husband Todori also died of tuberculosis. Completely overcome by the pain, or the conviction that she was bringing bad luck to all people around her, she locked herself in a convent, where she remains as nun until at age of seventy, year of  her death.
         Sen's story teaches us that life is full of surprises.


     

         In conclusion Himeji Castle is very beautiful