[6][8] As with almost all Japanese castles from the Azuchi-Momoyama period onward, the tenshu (天守, main keep), the most prominent structure, was used as a storehouse in times of peace and as a fortified tower in times of war, and the daimyo (大名, feudal lord)'s government offices and residences were located in a group of single-story buildings near the tenshu and the surrounding yagura (櫓, turrets).

[9] Himeji Castle dates to 1333 when Akamatsu Norimura built a fort on top of Himeyama hill.

[13] The works also removed decades of dirt and grime, restoring the formerly grey roof to its original brilliant white color.

[5][15] The entirety of the castle complex was slated to be demolished by government policy, but it was spared by the efforts of Nakamura Shigeto, an army colonel.

[17] By 1874, it briefly served as the headquarters for the 10th Infantry Regiment before being replaced by the Osaka Sendai unit later that year.

[18] Efforts to preserve the castle began in 1877, but it wasn't until 1910 that the government provided funding for a comprehensive restoration project.

[19] Himeji was heavily bombed in 1945, at the end of World War II, and although most of the surrounding area was burned to the ground, the castle survived intact.

[20] In order to preserve the castle complex, substantial repair work was undertaken starting in 1956, with a labor expenditure of 250,000 man-days and a cost of 550 million yen.

[7] The curved walls of Himeji Castle are sometimes said to resemble giant fans (扇子, sensu), but the principal materials used in the structures are stone and wood.

[5][6] Feudal family crests (家紋, kamon) are installed throughout the architecture of the building, signifying the various lords that inhabited the castle throughout its history.

The castle complex comprises a network of 83 buildings such as storehouses, gates, corridors, and turrets (櫓, yagura).

[5][16] Of these 83 buildings, 74 are designated as Important Cultural Assets: 11 corridors, 16 turrets, 15 gates, and 32 earthen walls.

[5] Joining the castle complex is Kōko-en (好古園), a Japanese garden created in 1992 to commemorate Himeji city's 100th anniversary.

[8] The basement of the main keep has an area of 385 m2 (4,140 sq ft), and its interior contains special facilities that are not seen in other keeps, including lavatories, a drain board, and a kitchen corridor.

[5] During the Shōwa Restoration (1956–1964) a Japanese cypress tree with a length of 26.4 m (87 ft) was brought down from the Kiso Mountains and replaced the old pillar.

[7] Loopholes (狭間, sama) in the shape of circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles are located throughout Himeji Castle, intended to allow defenders armed with tanegashima or archers to fire on attackers without exposing themselves.

[5] Angled chutes called "stone drop windows" (石落窓, ishi-otoshi-mado) were also set at numerous points in the castle walls, enabling stones or boiling oil to be poured on the heads of attackers passing by underneath, and white plaster was used in the castle's construction for its resistance to fire.

[5] The castle complex, particularly the Waist Quarter (腰曲輪, koshikuruwa), contains numerous warehouses that were used to store rice, salt, and water in case of a siege.

[8] The castle complex originally contained 84 gates, 15 of which were named according to the Japanese syllabary iroha (I, Ro, Ha, Ni, Ho, He, To, etc.).

[6][8] The castle has been featured extensively in foreign and Japanese films, including the James Bond movie "You Only Live Twice" (1967), and Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985).

[5] The well-known kaidan (or Japanese ghost story) of Banchō Sarayashiki (番町皿屋敷, "The Dish Mansion at Banchō") is set in Edo (Tokyo), but a variant called Banshū Sarayashiki (播州皿屋敷, "The Dish mansion in Harima Province") is set in Himeji Castle.

[4] According to the legend, Okiku was falsely accused of losing dishes that were valuable family treasures, and then killed and thrown into the well.

[5] According to the legend, Toyotomi Hideyoshi ran out of stones when building the original three-story keep, and an old woman heard about his trouble.

[5] It was said that people who heard the story were inspired and also offered stones to Hideyoshi, speeding up the construction of the castle.