Big Trouble In Castle Japoness Download
Odina Conkright
I collect 3D terrain. I recently purchased a "Samurai Castle" off Etsy. They come unpainted, and they are printed by people who own 3D printers. I don't want to own one because they are bulky, temperamental, and make a lot of noise. The one that we have at work is whining pretty much all day long, making a low-key electronic squeal as it moves around the bed squeezing out hot plastic. The thing's got to be kept at a precise and relatively perfect temperature, or the plastic unlatches from the bed which then causes a huge mess. Anyway, it's much easier to purchase from people willing to do all the trouble and just get the finished product from them.
Most of the terrain that I own is "Western-themed" as that is the most popular. So the items I've been purchasing off Etsy are "Japanese" flavored, and I'm going to have fun painting this castle (I'll attach pictures below). I received it yesterday in a big box and then last night I primed it. So tonight I should be able to start with the painting. I'm going to use the paint scheme of Himeji castle, which is a famous landmark in Japan.
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. The fort was dismantled and rebuilt as Himeyama Castle in 1346 and then remodeled into Himeji Castle two centuries later. Himeji Castle was then significantly remodeled in 1581 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who added a three-story castle keep. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded the castle to Ikeda Terumasa for his help in the Battle of Sekigahara, and Ikeda completely rebuilt the castle from 1601 to 1609, expanding it into a large castle complex.[3] Several buildings were later added to the castle complex by Honda Tadamasa from 1617 to 1618.[5] For almost 700 years, Himeji Castle has remained intact, even throughout the bombing of Himeji in World War II, and natural disasters including the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake.[3][2][10]
Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan, and it was registered in 1993 as one of the first UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country.[2] The area within the middle moat of the castle complex is a designated Special Historic Site and five structures of the castle are also designated National Treasures.[5][11] Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, Himeji Castle is considered one of Japan's three premier castles.[12] In order to preserve the castle buildings, it underwent restoration work for several years and reopened to the public on March 27, 2015.[13] The works also removed decades of dirt and grime, restoring the formerly grey roof to its original brilliant white color.
Himeji Castle's construction dates to 1333, when a fort was constructed on Himeyama hill by Akamatsu Norimura, the ruler of the ancient Harima Province.[3] In 1346, his son Sadanori demolished this fort and built Himeyama Castle in its place.[3][14] In 1545, the Kuroda clan was stationed here by order of the Kodera clan, and feudal ruler Kuroda Shigetaka remodeled the castle into Himeji Castle, completing the work in 1561.[3][15] In 1580, Kuroda Yoshitaka presented the castle to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and in 1581 Hideyoshi significantly remodeled the castle, building a three-story keep with an area of about 55 m2 (590 sq ft).[5][15]
Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu granted Himeji Castle to his son-in-law, Ikeda Terumasa, as a reward for his help in battle.[3] Ikeda demolished the three-story keep that had been created by Hideyoshi, and completely rebuilt and expanded the castle from 1601 to 1609, adding three moats and transforming it into the castle complex that is seen today.[3][5] The expenditure of labor involved in this expansion is believed to have totaled 2.5 million man-days.[3] Ikeda died in 1613, passing the castle to his son, who also died three years later.[4] In 1617, Honda Tadamasa and his family inherited the castle, and Honda added several buildings to the castle complex, including a special tower for his daughter-in-law, Princess Sen (千姫, Senhime)[4] called keshō yagura (Dressing Tower).
When the han feudal system was abolished in 1871, Himeji Castle was put up for auction.[5] The castle was purchased by a Himeji resident for 23 Japanese yen (about 200,000 yen or US$2,258 today).[5] The buyer wanted to demolish the castle complex and develop the land, but the cost of destroying the castle was estimated to be too great, and it was again spared.[5]
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.[7] One firebomb was dropped on the top floor of the castle but failed to explode.[17] 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.[5][15] In January 1995, the city of Himeji was substantially damaged by the Great Hanshin earthquake, but Himeji Castle again survived virtually undamaged, demonstrating remarkable earthquake resistance.[10] Even the bottle of sake placed on the altar at the top floor of the keep remained in place.[10]
Along with Matsumoto Castle and Kumamoto Castle, Himeji Castle is considered one of Japan's three premier castles.[12] It is the most visited castle in Japan, receiving over 2,860,000 visitors in 2015.[3][2] Starting in April 2010, Himeji Castle underwent restoration work to preserve the castle buildings, and reopened to the public on March 27, 2015.[13]
Himeji Castle is the largest castle in Japan.[2] It serves as an excellent example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, containing many of the defensive and architectural features associated with Japanese castles.[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.[5]
The specific style of the castle is a hirayama (平山城 flat hilltop). Two castles that were built during the same time and shared many of the architectural features are Matsuyama Castle (Iyo) and Tsuyama Castle.
The main keep (大天守, daitenshu) at the center of the complex is 46.4 m (152 ft) high, standing 92 m (302 ft) above sea level. Together with the main keep, three smaller subsidiary keeps (小天守, kotenshu) form a cluster of towers.[5] Externally, the keep appears to have five floors, because the second and third floors from the top appear to be a single floor; however, it actually has six floors and a basement.[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]
The first floor of the main keep has an area of 554 m2 (5,960 sq ft) and is often called the "thousand-mat room" because it has over 330 Tatami mats.[5] The walls of the first floor have weapon racks (武具掛け, bugukake) for holding matchlocks and spears, and at one point, the castle contained as many as 280 guns and 90 spears.[5] The second floor has an area of roughly 550 m2 (5,900 sq ft).[5]
Himeji Castle contains advanced defensive systems from the feudal period.[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.[8] Roughly 1,000 loopholes exist in the castle buildings remaining today.[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.[26]
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.[5] A building known as the Salt Turret (塩櫓, shioyagura) [16] was used specifically to store salt, and it is estimated that it contained as many as 3,000 bags of salt when the castle complex was in use.[5] The castle complex also contained 33 wells within the inner moat, 13 of which remain; the deepest of these has a depth of 30 m (98 ft).[5]
One of the castle's most important defensive elements is the confusing maze of paths leading to the castle's keep.[8] The gates, baileys, and outer walls of the complex are organized so as to confuse an approaching force, causing it to travel in a spiral pattern around the complex on its way to the keep.[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.).[5] At present, 21 gates from the castle complex remain intact, 13 of which are named according to the Japanese syllabary.[5]
Himeji Castle is frequently known as Hakuro-jō or Shirasagi-jō ("White Egret Castle" or "White Heron Castle") because of its brilliant white exterior and supposed resemblance to a bird taking flight.[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).[12] In the television miniseries Shōgun (1980) it served as a stand-in for feudal-era Osaka Castle.[17] In the video games Civilization Revolution and Civilization V, Himeji Castle is available to build as a world wonder. It is also to be found as a Great Building in Forge of Empires.
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