Glistening white Himeji Castle 1

白く輝く美しい姫路城　１

＜　1.  Himeji Castle　＞

＜　１．　姫路城　＞

Today, I introduce Himeji Castle.

I visited the Himeji Castle after major renovations on New Year's Day.

This is called another name as "White Egret Castle”, and is a world's cultural heritage and a national treasure.

It is an extreme of the Japanese tradition beauty

今日は、姫路城を紹介します。

私は大修理を終えた姫路城を元旦に訪れました。

これは別名「白鷺城」と呼ばれ、世界文化遺産であり国宝でもある日本の伝統美の極みです。

＜　2.  The past and present of the Himeji Castle　＞

＜　２．姫路城の今昔　＞

Upper fig.:  A picture of the Himeji Castle of the early Meiji period.

Lower photo:  The aerial photograph before the renovations in 2007.

The top of the both pictures indicates the north, the moat is seen at the under side, and Ote-mon Gate (main gate) is seen at the center of it.

上の図：　明治初期の姫路城の絵。

下の写真：　大修理前、２００７年の航空写真。

両方共に、上が北で、下側に堀、その中央に大手門が見える。

＜　3.  The Himeji Castle and the castle tower　＞

＜　３．　姫路城と天守閣　＞

Upper map:  A red line shows my visiting route to the castle tower, and a blue line does it from the castle tower.

We can go up to the top floor of the castle tower.

The top of the map is the north direction.

Lower fig.:  It shows the structure of the castle tower.

The structure of the castle tower becomes a building built on the stone wall of 15m in height that has six floors and is 32m in height, and then there is the first floor within the stone wall.  

This is the best wooden building in all Japan, and two "large pillars" of about 1m in the root diameter are 25m in height, and penetrate through this wooden building from the basement to the fifth floor.

The castle tower was increased the white remarkably by virtue of the roofing tiles and plaster coatings having been repaired entirely in "Restoration of Heisei".

上の図：　赤線が天守閣まで、青線が天守閣からの見学ルートを示します。

天守閣の最上階まで上ることが出来ます。

地図の上が北方向です。

下の図：　天守閣の構造を示します。

この天守閣は石垣の高さ１５ｍ、その上の建物は６階で高さ３２ｍ、地下（石垣内）１階構造です。

これは日本最高峰の木造建築で、高さ２５ｍ、根本直径約１ｍの二本の「大柱」が地下から５階まで貫通しています。

今回の「平成の修理」によって、天守閣の瓦と漆喰が全面補修されたことにより、一段と白さを増しました。

＜　4.  Finally, I entry into the castle ＞

＜　４．　いよいよ入城　＞

Upper photo:  I pass through Ote-mon Gate, and get a panoramic view of the Himeji Castle from the open space.

Lower photo:  I pass through an entrance gate, and enter the first castle gate "Diamond Gate".

上の写真：　大手門を抜けて、広場から姫路城の全景を望む。

下の写真：　入城口を抜けて、最初の城門「菱の門」に入る。

*５

＜　6.  Finally, I entry into to the castle tower　＞

＜　６．　いよいよ天守閣へ　＞

Upper photo:  I stand just under the castle tower.

I go into the building soon.

Lower photo:  I overlook the west side from the window of the lower floor of the castle tower.

上の写真：　天守閣の直ぐ下。

もうすぐ建物に入って行きます。

下の写真：　天守閣下層の窓から西側を見下ろす。

＜　7.  Inside the castle tower 1　＞

＜　７．　天守閣内　１　＞

These are pictures of the 1^st floor or 2^nd floor.

There were many visitors, so we had to wait our turn for going up on this floor.

Seeing this wooden construction, I could feel that many samurais walked through the passageway for several hundred years.

これらは１階か２階の写真です。

多くの見学者がいたので、この階で登城の順番を待ちます。

この木造からは数百年の歴史、武士が行き交う当時をしのぶことが出来そうです。

＜　8.  Inside the castle tower 2　＞

＜　８．　天守閣内　２　＞

Furthermore, I am going to the top floor.

Central photo:  “ West large pillar” is seen in the photo, and it is one of “large pillar”.

This floor is the 5th floor, and the part is the top of the pillar.

The iron plate seen in the photo seems the sliding prevention of the pillar.

This continues next time.

さらに最上階に向けて上って行きます。

中央の写真：　「西大柱」が見えます、これは「大柱」の一本です。

この階は５階で、柱の最頂部になります。

鉄板で滑り防止の補強がなされているようです。

次回に続きます。