Himeji Castle stands on a flat hilltop in Hyōgo Prefecture. Akamatsu Norimura built the first fort here in 1333, and it was rebuilt in 1346. Toyotomi Hideyoshi added a three-story keep in 1581, and Ikeda Terumasa rebuilt and expanded the complex from 1601 to 1609.
The main keep is 152 feet (46.4 m) high, with six floors and a basement. Its white plaster resists fire and earned the castle the nickname White Egret Castle. A network of 83 buildings forces attackers into a spiral approach, and the defenses include roughly 1,000 loopholes and stone-drop windows.
The castle survived wartime bombing and the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake. Repairs began in 1956, and a restoration ran from April 2010 to March 2015. UNESCO listed Himeji in 1993 as one of Japan's first World Heritage Sites. It drew 2,860,000 visitors in 2015.
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