You can see the castle from well outside of its walls. In fact, this picture of the castle is taken from across this plain and outside of this outer wall / moat.
My first thoughts, as I got closer, involved speculation as to how much it would suck to have to attack the castle with pre-modern weapons. Unsurprisingly, no one actually tried that. Though the principle purpose of castles is defense, it seems that the planners pulled out every trick they could think of for this one. The passageways through the lower grounds are almost maze-like, requiring visitors to pass through gateways (complete with murder holes above them) and cross open spaces that are well watched from above. Though every thing that can be turned to defense is, there is an artistic element to it. The afore mentioned arrow slits are designed to protect defenders, but come in a variety of fashionable designs (see right).
To reach the top at a walking pace without being hindered by defenders takes a couple of hours. Of course, I did have hordes of tourists in between me and my goal, which led to an amusing exchange with a British man. We were trying to go up some stairs divided down the center, and weren't sure if we should go up the left or right side. As japanese drive on the left side, I thought we should walk up on the left. But people came down on both sides, so we were just confused. He made a comment on it; I laughed as he spoke my thoughts. Anyway, afterward he said "You know, I've seen a lot of castles in my time, but this one takes the mickey". I do not know what the mickey is, but I am assuming it is some equivalent of 'cake'.
We had to remove our shoes to walk around the hard-wood floors of the castle . They offered us slippers, though. They had two sizes: too small and too large. First I tried the large, but my feet almost slipped out. Then I tried the small, but... they did not fit. I settled for the large. However, they had nearly fallen off by the time I was halfway up the first narrow, steep staircase, so I settled for walking around in my socks.
The castle contains many exhibits of artwork that were either owned by the castle's occupants, or that the occupants were subjects of. They also still had some racks of rifles and spears, for the defenders to quickly arm themselves.
The top room in the castle contained a shrine, though I am not certain what exactly it was a shrine to. However, this was my first chance to see people use a shrine, which was interesting. The top of the tower also had excellent views of the city of Himeji.
After leaving the main tower, I walked over to the women's quarters. They were spartan, but elegant. I also liked the hallway... From the windows, one could see the castle from a different angle. My favorite part was the models of the women (and their cat. Especially their cat) at the end.
Walking around the grounds outside of the main tower afterward was kind of fun, too, though not as picturesque as Koko-en. There were little buildings everywhere, and far less people than in the main throughfare. I do not believe that the cars were a historical reconstruction, though I giggled at the fantasy that ancient warriors would use them to quickly ferry themselves to where the battle was thickest.
Extra Stuff:
There was a little Shrine next to the castle.
There was also a well, with an accompanying plaque that told the related Ghost Story.
I had a thing for taking pictures of the large poster-maps of the sights I saw. They were quite detailed.
All in all, Himeji was one of my favorite destinations on my trip. This is the first time I'd seen a real castle, and it was everything I could hope for. However, climbing all those stairs and walking that far would catch up with me in a couple of days...