id: jp-hyogo-himeji
name: Himeji Castle
name_local: 姫路城
tradition: japanese
location:
  country: JP
  region: Hyogo Prefecture
  locality: Himeji
  lat: 34.8394
  lon: 134.6939
built:
  from: 1333
  to: 1609
  period: remodelled to its present form 1601-1609
condition: intact
definitions_met:
  fortified_residence:
    verdict: 'yes'
    basis: 'A fortified residence of a lord, satisfying the criterion on its own functional
      terms: defensible works - baileys, gatehouses meant to be held, loopholes, a spiral
      approach designed for defence - combined with the residence of a daimyo. The criterion
      is functional rather than geographic and Himeji meets it without needing a special case.'
  popular_castle:
    verdict: 'yes'
    basis: Japan's most visited castle, a National Treasure and World Heritage site, universally
      called a castle in both Japanese and English.
  palatial_seat:
    verdict: 'no'
    basis: Genuinely defensible rather than palatial; the defensive works govern the design.
  state_fortification:
    verdict: 'no'
    basis: A daimyo's seat under the shogunate rather than a state artillery installation.
  enclosure_fortification:
    verdict: 'no'
    basis: A designed lordly castle, not a prehistoric enclosure work.
  revival_folly:
    verdict: 'no'
    basis: Genuine defensive-era fabric, extensively conserved but not a romantic reconstruction.
register_entries:
- register: wikidata
  ref: Q182000
  url: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q182000
disputed: false
first_seen: '2026-07-21'
last_updated: '2026-07-21'
confidence: high
sources:
- url: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/661
  title: Himeji-jo
  publisher: UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  date: '1993'
- url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_castle
  title: Japanese castle
  publisher: Wikipedia
notes: 'Carried deliberately to test whether the strict band is Eurocentric in practice as
  well as in origin. It is not: applied functionally, fortified_residence admits a shiro on
  the same terms as an Anglo-Norman keep. The tradition field locates Himeji without demoting
  it - which is why tradition is orthogonal to the bands rather than a band of its own. Note
  that OpenStreetMap reached the same conclusion by a different route, adopting castle_type=shiro
  as a first-class value (159 uses) instead of translating it away.'