Himeji – Japan’s Most Beautiful Haunted Castle

Himeji Castle is the most beautiful castle in Japan, and it is haunted! If you are traveling around Japan, it is definitely worth a short stop.

While we were planning our trip in Japan, we noticed that there was an interesting city mid-way along our route called Himeji. Their main attraction is their beautiful castle which is also said to be haunted. And of course we had to add one more stop on our list.

Himeji (Himeji-shi) is a medium sized town in Hyogo Prefecture. Over 500,000 people live there. They mostly work in chemical or electronics plants and steel mills. One of the traditional industries that is still important in Himeji is fishing.

It is easy to get to Himeji by train. The train ride there takes about three hours from Tokyo, an hour from Osaka and 45 minutes from Kyoto with the Shinkansen bullet train.

Since that we were passing by Himeji anyway, we just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to stop there and visit Himeji Castle. And it was definitely worth it!

The story of Himeji Castle

The castle in Himeji dates back to the mid-14th century. It was built on Himeyama hill where they first had a fort. In 1346 the fort was dismantled and Himeyama Castle was built to replace it. Himeyama Castle was later remodelled and renamed to Himeji Castle.

After that, the castle has gone through several remodels and expansions, and it was finally completed by Ikeda Terumasa in 1609.

The castle today is the biggest castle in Japan, and is said to be the most beautiful as well. It is also the most visited of the Japanese castles.

It is built mostly of wood and then plastered white, inspiring its nickname the “White Egret Castle”. Some of its structures are considered to be national treasures.

Himeji Castle has survived World War II, the Great Hanshin Earthquake and several typhoons. During the war more than half of the city was destroyed by fires that were started by incendiary bombs. The castle remained intact even though it was blackened by smoke.

Himeji Castle was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1993.

Visiting Himeji Castle

We had booked a hotel next to the railway station, so we stopped there first to drop off our luggage. Then we walked to Himeji Castle, which was about ten minutes from the station.

You will not be able to get lost on this walk, since you will be able to see the castle the whole time on top of a hill.

We were in Himeji during Japan’s Thanksgiving Day so the castle was pretty crowded, but we did get tickets to go to both; the castle and Himeji Kokoen Garden which is right next to the castle. On busy weeks I recommend getting there early because tickets can sell out and they are not sold in advance.

At the entrance they told us that we can park the baby stroller behind the ticket office and so we then headed on to the most beautiful castle in Japan. Before we got into the castle, we had to wait in a line as they tried to keep the amount of people inside a reasonable number.

There are also guided tours you can reserve that will let you skip the lines at Himeji on busy days.

When you enter the castle you will be given a plastic bag. It is for you to store your shoes during the visit. The floors in the castle are wood and there is an effort to protect them from shoes and especially from heels. You should bring comfortable socks and if you want, you can also bring your own shoe bag.

When entering be careful of the doorways since they are very small and you might hit your head on them.

There is no furniture inside the castle but it is nice to wander around to see different rooms. One room has some old artefacts on display, and the upper floor has a nice view over the city of Himeji.

The floor plan of the castle is very complicated, and it might be hard to navigate inside the castle unless you follow the marked route. Little alleys can be deceiving and the castle has many gates, secret rooms and tunnels.

You should reserve some time for your visit since there are a total of 83 rooms. You will not be able to visit them all of course, but there is plenty to see. There are a total of six floors and a basements in Himeji Castle.

You might notice some holes in the castle walls as there are about 1000 of them. They were part of the defense system of the castle during the feudal period. They were designed so that the defenders could shoot intruders.

No one ever attacked Himeji Castle, so their highly complex defense system never got tested. 

Since I was born and raised in Europe, we have been touring around some castles in Finland and Estonia but they look very different from Japanese castles. It was fascinating to see they were built so differently.

THE GHOST OF OKIKU AND HAUNTED CASTLE

An old Japanese folktale tells the story of the beautiful maid Okiku who worked for the samurai Tessan Aoyama.

Because Okiku persistently rejected Aoyama’s romantic gestures, he fooled her to believe that she had broken one of his ten valuable porcelain plates.

Normally there would have been the death penalty for that, but Aoyama promises to forgive her if she would be his mistress. Okiku declined, and disappointed by that, Aoyama threw her into a well where she died.

It is said that Okiku returned as a ghost and comes out at night time. She wanders around the alleys near the castle and counts the plates. After she counts to 9 she breaks into a horrible howl. 

There are many different versions of this tale, with this one unique to Himeji Castle. You can find the well while touring the castle, but be careful if you end up here at night time!

The horror movie The Ring released in 2002, was inspired by this story. 

Walking around Himeji Castle is quite tiring, because there is just so much to see. But is worth all that time and even the sore feet. At least for us, it was one of the most memorable places we got to see in Japan!

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We arrived to Himeji from Kyoto after spending some time both there and in Nara. We fell in love with both of these cities, which were very different from each other. And so Himeji turned out to be a great stop along the way to Hiroshima.

The next morning we hopped onto the train again and continued our journey. If you want to see what all we did in Japan, here is our two week itinerary in full. We both started and ended our trip in Tokyo as we toured around the country by train.

🇯🇵 OUR JAPAN TRAVEL RESOURCES 🇯🇵

⛩ Read from here about the things your should know before traveling to Japan.
🍣 While in Japan, make sure to try out at least these foods and treats.
🗝 Hotels & Vacation Rentals: We usually find the best hotel deals here and also check this site.
Vacation homes and condos we book through VRBO.
🚗 Car Rentals: We compare rental car prices on DiscoverCars to find the best deals worldwide.
🚄 Train: If you are visiting multiple cities in Japan we recommend taking the train. Here is
everything you need to know about traveling by train in Japan. We got our JR Pass from here.
🗺 Tours & Activities: We usually book tours through Viator or GetYourGuide.
Both have huge selections and easy cancellation.
✈️ Flights & Online Security: We use VPN when searching for flights.
📞 Travel eSIM & Data: For mobile data in Japan, we used Yesim and it worked well for that.
🩹 Travel Insurance: We always travel with insurance and use SafetyWing on our trips.