[Shiga/Hikone] Hikone Castle where you can meet Hikonyan

#FuriTabi #Shiga #ShigaTourism #HikoneCastle #Hikonyan #Castle 📍1-1 Kanagicho, Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture 522-0061 🕰️8:30-17:00 Hikone Castle is a modern castle whose construction began in 1604 and took about 20 years to complete. Because it remains in extremely good condition, it was designated as a national "historic site" in 1951 and a "special historic site" in 1956, and is carefully protected as a national shared asset. It is also listed on the tentative list of Japan's World Heritage Sites and is aiming to be registered as a World Heritage Site. I arrived in the evening and was just in time to enter, so I didn't get to see Hikonyan, but I still enjoyed it. However, it took some physical strength to climb the stone steps on the mountain path to the castle tower. There is a 50m difference in height to the castle tower, and there are about 140 steps in total. I think the stairs are slightly irregular so that enemy soldiers could not rush up the stairs in one go when attacking. However, once you reach the top of the stairs, you can get a panoramic view of Lake Biwa. Even from a high vantage point, Lake Biwa looks like the ocean, and you can really get a sense of its size.