Himeji Castle and Engyogi

Today we went to Himeji Castle and Engyogi Shrine. Himeji Castle is more of a fortress than a castle, really, super-fortified with lots of hidden places within the main tower, and at Engyogi (which is where part of The Last Samurai was filmed) we did extreme climbing on mountain roads - some of them were sloped at what seemed like 45º!!!

Himeji Castle! FORTIFIED.

Specially-formed windows - bigger and wider in the inside, tapering to a smaller aperture to the outside, so you can shoot your enemies easily with arrows but they can't shoot you!

Imperial seals at Himeji.

Statues of monks at Engyogi.

Rocks stacked on a lantern at Engyogi.

Not a very picture-heavy day today. Possible free day tomorrow - we were supposed to go to Tokyo but we are probably going to be staying in Kyoto. People losing their passports is no fun :(.