Ikeda Terumasa Rebuilds Himeji Castle

Terumasa received Harima after serving the victorious side in 1600. Himeji already had a castle developed under Hideyoshi and his successors, including a three-roof keep. Beginning in 1601, Terumasa rebuilt that inherited base on a much larger scale.

His builders reused some earlier stone walls, dismantled the keep and erected a linked complex centered on a five-roof main keep. Moats, walls and earthen banks divided the castle into inner, middle and outer rings. Palaces, gates and turrets filled out the defended enclosures. Town zoning in the middle and outer rings was largely established during the same work, which continued until 1609.

Honda Tadamasa arrived in 1617 and added substantial buildings in the western and third enclosures. His residence moved from the Bizenmaru to high ground on the west of the Sannomaru. The familiar castle thus includes important Honda additions as well as Terumasa’s rebuilding. Twentieth- and twenty-first-century repair preserved and restored surviving buildings from these successive phases.