While European castles were built of stone, Japanese castles were predominantly wooden structures. A total of 360 tons of wood and 75,000 tiles weighing 3,000 tons were used in the construction of Himeji Castle.
Once you reach the main donjon you'll see a 31.5 m tall, five-story structure from the outside, but inside, there are six stories plus a basement.
Himeji Castle is famous for not only this huge main tower but also the highly effective and complicated defensive design, which is just like a maze.
However, Himeji Castle in its present form has never entered into war. In a sense, the White Heron Castle is - and may it continue to be - a symbol of peace.
Himeji was bombed in 1945, at the end of World War II. Although a nearby middle school was burned completely to the ground, the castle survived almost entirely unscathed, except for a few stray impacts from nearby.
"No one would be foolish enough to choose war over peace--in peace sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons." -- Georg Lichtenberg
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