Himeji 姫路, Japan Trip (Day 7)

10th March 2017, Friday

Today was a travel-alone day for me as i had planned to head down to Himeji from Osaka. As my friends had not decided where to go, so i went ahead to prepare my day trip. I left the hotel before them and headed down to the main train station. The train staff had gave a 10 mins later train, which i hurried to buy my breakfast and rushed up to the platform in time. It was a 45 mins ride from Osaka to Himeji, so i reached there around 9.45 am. Then i went to the tourists information area to get some travel information.

From the train station, i could the super white castle, which is the Himeji castle from a distance. Then i walked to the bus terminal to get the bus tickets to Mt Shosha. From the bus terminal, i had to take a bus to the ropeway terminal and from the ropeway terminal, i had to take the ropeway up to the top of the mountain. All in all, it took 1 hour plus to reach the mountain. When i reached the ticket counter, there was one monk to ask the visitors whether to take bus or walk. It costed around 1000 yen for the bus ride up to the temple. Alternatively, it cost 500 yen to walk on your own up. So i chose to walk on my own up.

It was quite interesting to walk on the path up, there were many Guan Yin statues in different forms along the path and each of them had a donation box in front of it. When i reached halfway, there was a spot where i can see Himeji city below. It was quite a great sight and the best was it was super quiet on the mountain. There was not a single soul or car around (but it can get a little scary)...hahaaa....I could only hear sound of some birds and wind blowing. I took a long time to reach the first hall. There were many different rooms along the way, however, the rooms were not opened. There was also a hall with 33 buddha statues in it. There was a small shop selling some food and there were a small group of people around. After which, i continued walking for my exploration. I reached an area where there were 3 halls sitting side by side. One of the halls was a student hall and there were 2 students studying there. One hall had some exhibits on the 2nd floor and oh man, it was cold with my shoes off. Beside it, there was a tomb of hondas, where there were about 6 shrines in it.

After that, i tried to walk to the highest peak and i should have taken a walking stick with me. It was quite tiring hiking that mountain. Luckily, my friends didn't join me today...think they will start scolding me...hahaaa....I spent my whole morning walking around the mountain but i think there were many places i had missed it. I headed back to the ropeway station around 1 pm and there were a group of children waiting for the ropeway. So i waited for the next trip, by the time i reached back to the bus terminal, it was around 2.30 pm.

Shoro Bell Tower

Hokke-Do

View from the Peak

Only eating place

As the closing time for Himeji castle was around 5 pm, i had to walk quickly to the castle. I bought the ticket and went in for my adventure. It was grand and it was very white, with the blue sky in the background. And it was very big...even bigger than Osaka castle. It consisted of 1 big keep and 2 small keeps and a super long corridor surrounding the castle. The main keep had 6 levels and i had to take off my shoes to go up each level and carry my shoes around. It was crowded inside too and saw a drunk uncle on one of the floors. There were plenty of history on the castle and its ground. The surrounding walls had triangle, rectangle and circle shapes and it was meant that the holes are meant for weapons like bow & arrows, guns to attack the enemies. There were also stories like a grandma had donated her hand mill stone to the Castle Lord, Hashiba Hideyoshi at the time of building the castle. There was also a stone coffin whereby it was unearthed from a burial ground and used in a stone wall during the original construction of the castle. Inside the main keep, there were rooms to keep their weapons and a super small warriors hiding room.

Himeji Castle

To defend the castle

Hand Mill Stone

Stone Coffin

Weapons Shelfs

Warriors Hiding Room

After which, i headed to one part of the corridor where there were rooms showing the life of Princess Sen but there was not enough time for me to complete all as it was almost to the closing time. After the castle tour, i walked back to the train station and bought a few of souvenirs at the shops opposite the castle. Bought a lot of the gold coins there too and missed my return train. I wasn't sure the closing time of the JR office, so i was rushing back to the train station to get a return ticket to Osaka. There was a ramen shop that looked nice but was unable to try it. When i finally reached the JR office, it was still open and managed to get a return ticket.

So i ended up eating in one of the eatery in the station. I reached Osaka at around 8 plus and my friends had not returned from their day trip. I finally bought the famous Osaka gyoza to try....hohoho....They had actually traveled back to Kyoto for shopping....hahaa....Hence, i reached the hotel earlier and had my hot shower. When the two came back, they had bought a lot of goodies back...heheee

Hotel Stayed:
Yamatoya Honten