Japan’s Modern Castles Episode One: Himeji Castle (姫路城)

A virtual tour of Himeji Castle in Western Japan, examining the modern history of the site from the Meiji Restoration of 1868 to the present day. This video investigates a range of historical artifacts that remain in and around Himeji Castle as witnesses to its modern past. For more information on the modern history of Japan’s castles, see the book by Oleg Benesch and Ran Zwigenberg, Japan’s Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace (Cambridge University Press, 2020), or or