Himeji Castle (姫路城) is the only one castle listed on World Heritage Site of 12 original castles in Japan.
There are about 100 castles which have a castle tower (Tensyu, 天守) in Japan now, but there are only dozen castles left which considered "original" ("original" means castles which have a castle tower built in Edo period or earlier). After the build of Azuchi castle (安土城) in 1579, about 3,000 castles which have a castle tower were built all over the country, but many of them were lost because of "Law of One Castle per province" in Edo period, "Law of Abandonment of Castles" in 1873 by Meiji government and World War Ⅱ.
Himeji castle dates to 1333 when a fort was built on the top of the hill. The castle was rebuilt as a three-story castle in 1581 and remodeled again as a today's five-story castle from 1601 to 1609. Himeji castle is also called as "Shirasagi Castle" which means "White Heron Castle" praising the beauty of white outer walls. Not only in the beauty of appearance, but also in the defensive systems, Himeji Castle stands above the rest. Himeji castle has a threefold spiral-shaped defense line by cleverly using surrounding nature including rivers and hills and artificial buildings including a lot of gates, towers, stone walls and moats.
Himeji Castle of beauty and strength is a special castle for Japanese because it is the first and the only one castle listed on World Heritage Site in Japan.
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