as a intro, most of these castles were built during the shogunate era, mainly by the a few famous warlords like hideyoshi and tokugawa... most of which have a warring purposes, or used as forts in the war...but as time goes by..they are now being protected as a heritage centre in japan...
Nijo castle... this is used as more of a summer house rather than a fort... it's not surrounded by high walls like the others u'll see later...
view of Nijo from the front... doesn't it look like a damn big chalet...
this castle here is the Himeji castle... i purposely came all the way down just to see this castle... it's also known as the white heron, and is notedly one of the most famous castle in Japan...
Himeji castle...note the high walls and many layers of building... each building has its own purposes in housing soldiers, weapons and look out holes... and of course..right at the very top is where the shogun lives...
stone tablet welcoming us to Himeji castle...
closed up view of Himeji castle...
front view of Himeji castle....compare the height of a human to the castle... this damn 6 storey castle almost killed me when i was climbing the staircase all the way up... btw, this castle retains a fair amount of its past and was kept intact...
and here's Osaka castle... protected by a moat...to reach the castle...soldiers have to cross the moat, scale the walls, make their way up the long route to just reach the outskirts...war is hard back in those days....
Osaka castle with its bling bling ornaments...those bling bling parts are actually gold foil...
miniature replica of the battle of sekigahara...or rather..the east west war...
view from the top of Osaka castle...
sern with 2 girls...
"we only fail when we stopped trying... not when we do not succeed..."
