One of the things that bothers me the most about this matter is the sheer number of castles that did not survive! I would have loved to see Kasugayama castle, a mountain citadel and one of the biggest most powerful castles in Japan... Well we will have to make do with the ones that survived, and Himeji is a piece of art. I greatly enjoyed this video and I do have to say, you chose a good time to visit, i recall repairs and maintenance finished not too long ago so the castle looks whiter than usual! Great video man!!
@@烏梨師斂 wrong. When the Tokugawa Shogunate took over they ordered the daimyo to demolish nearly all of their own castles except for one per region to make sure said daimyo couldnt amass power. This was during the Edo period, almost 250 years before the "big, bad, tewwible dum b americans" came over.
And since this is the White Crane castle, if you're taking the Shinkansen to Kumamoto, a stop at the Black Crow Castle in Okayama might be fun. Much smaller, but with an amazing sakura garden (in spring) in the feudal household next to the castle. And the whole castle is black, to contrast directly with Himeji Castle.😉
I love the intro "Let's go to Japan altogether!" when everyone was thinking that we would have a regular video ;). thanks to those who made this possible!, that was a total surprise! :) :) :)
Hey Metatron, glad you could make it back to Japan. I’ve been missing the place a lot ever since I went there for the first time. BTW this is your old chap, Anz Bryan
Just for some clarification..... The tenshu was not the full time residence of the daimyo in most castles like this. There was another building on the grounds called the goten, often translated into English as palace, that was the daimyo's residence, leisure, study, offices, ect... If I remember correctly, the goten was typically, albeit not always, in the nihonmaru. The thenshu was a military building to be used in times of war. Again this is for this type of castle, the late 16th century and later. There were however a few exceptions. Oda Nobunaga had residences in the tenshu of both Gifu (the first castle of have a tenshu) and Azuchi castles when he was there, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi had a residence in the tenshu of Osaka Castle for when he was there.
Yup, use the terrain to funnel opponents into kill zones. Even the gardens could be designed that way. Good solid, thorny hedges can be quite effective, even today. Always wondered if they ever used rice paddies as a sort of moat.
One more thing, Metatron. If it’s not too much ask, would you make your videos every day? I know your busy but you're like my favorite tv show. Could you do that for your fans and I? Thanks, Elijah C. Brooks
Wonderful video. Keep up work like this. The greater the detail and insights that you can bring to your videos the more they will be enjoyed and shared. On a personal note, two thumbs up, cheers and applause for you on your new (new to me anyway) hairstyle. I also would say that the clean shaven look shows you to be most handsome, while retaining your youthful charm. Keep up the great work !
One cool thing to show if you're near Osaka castle are the blocks that have been thrown down (and thus were not destroyed during the bombing of the castle during WWII and subsequent rebuild with concrete), as they have maker's marks from the people who supplied it. Pretty interesting.😉
Awesome content, and I love seeing these amazing places up close. But I noticed something... I think it's about time you updated Chibi Metatron so he reflects your current appearance.
When you did the night shot of the castle, it would have been cool to see it all lit up with torchlight, like it would have been back then. The modern spotlights really light it up though.
Very nice video! Would have loved to see more about the layout of the castle, a top down view or a map would be great. -If-When you travel to the other castles (hopefully you'll get enough support to do both!), it would be great if you could film more in detail and explain where in the castle your are, what function that part has etc.. Kinda what you did in this video, but with much more detail and some sort of map to more easily orient us viewers! Good luck on funding the other two videos, I'll see what I can chip in with :)
@@ousamadearudesuwa Duragon = Dragon. Ryu is another type of dragon, Asian type dragon like you see in dragon ball. While Dragon is European type dragon. Oh, wait. I think I should refrain myself because you know Japanese culture better than me.
@@ousamadearudesuwa You know what? The person above you, he make that comment as joke while you respond it so serious and you make mistake as you try to correcting him. *Slow clap
hi metatron, i have watched a lot of your videos and i think they are great and educational,but i havent seen one about the medieval period roman empire(byzantines) and i would love to see a video about their tactics,castes,armor,weapons and all the wonderful thinks you cover in your videos.thanks and keep it up
I'm conflicted about this one, especially since you'd like to make a series out of it. After watching the video, I felt, that I still yet to see the castle... The video is very informative in Metatron quality, but you show us very little of the castle compared to how much time you've spent there. I have no idea what you're allowed to film and where to go within the castle. No shots from the inner rooms, like how they look, from the inner courtyards, or to be amazed by the maze that you're talking about... lots of shots out of focus, but maybe it's cool from an artistic point of view I don't know, just feels odd... I hope that you plan to make a part two video, where you show more of the castle. Don't get me wrong, you deserve these trips for the amount of quality content you made for us throughout the years, but the castle videos could be a lot more... in my eyes anyway...;))) Thank you for your hard work, Metatron!
I do not think a triangle arrow port is as efficient as the vertical rectangles angled on the inside.The walls are amazing I never knew no mortar was used wow. Wonderful travel VLOG Metatron ! How surprised would the locals be seeing you in your Samurai armor there?
Himeji Castle is great and also the city around it its so relaxing there and not so busy like tokyo or osaka. By the way if someone was wondering why there are fish sculptures on the cornrs of the roffs this are dragonfish there function was to protect the castle from fire and every japanese castle had them well we all know how effective that was most of the other castles ;)
I love that you went back to Japan to film this, thank you. However, I think you missed an opportunity to document your experience returning to Japan. Perhaps you can say how it felt like comming back, but thanks for the video.
Raffaello, if I may make a suggestion! How about for historical authenticity and for entertainment, how about you cover the next episodes in Japanese with English and Italian subtitles?
From a defensive standpoint, the only thin that would concern me about this castle design would be if the enemy really wanted to burn it down or if the First Crusade somehow showed up with a trebuchet.
In Japan they could build the internal structures of their castles higher than their walls because the country is very mountainous, so armies weren't able to pull around large artillery like trebuchets. In the Mediterranean and Europe, however, artillery was a very real threat which is why the castles of those regions tend to be more reticent regarding how tall their internal structures are.
I was born in Himeji, and now also live in Himeji. Thank you so much for introducing our Himeji Castle. We also call Himeji Castle "Shirasagi-Jo" which means "Castle of Egret". Many movie directors chose Himeji City to take Japanese Samurai movies, the most famous one is "Last Samurai" taken by Tom Cruise. Furthermore, Himeji has many traditional cultures. If you are curious to come to Himeji for Sightseeing, please check the website below; www.himeji-kanko.jp/en/
Himeji, always my favourite castle here in Japan. Amazingly beautiful, and with an amazing history! Sadly the armament displays have been greatly reduced since the refurbishment that finished in 2016...
excellent contenu bravo!! pour l'anecdote je retournais a Kyoto depuis Hiroshima et la une japonaise, voyant à ma tête que j'était pas un autochtone, me secoue pour me montrer ce château par le hublot de Shinkansen et elle a tiré son mari (en le réveillant en sursaut le pauvre) pour que j'en fasse une photo
Always strategic to build your castle on top of the highest hill you can find. Then if you are under attack you just roll big rocks and logs down the hill at them lol
Weren't you going to do a video on Japanese women's underwear or something a few years ago? I might be thinking of something else but I'm pretty sure it was you. I'm still waiting for that, even if it wasn't you that said it.
It's great seeing someone covering japanese castles. But I was wondering a couple of things. What did they use for Machiculations and did they ever include some sort of parapet? Also, if you do end up getting funded, could you do some videos on ruins and how they met their fate?
Ik went There last November. It is a very pretty and large Castle. It was also fun toch see how all the defensieve positions interlocked and howe alle the paths where funneled to very deadly eareas for the atackers. Also i went to kamumoto. Sadly was the kamumoto Castle closed due to damage from a earthquakethe year before. And IT Will be decades before al the damage is repaires. Is kamumoto open again for visitors?
one thing I envy to japanese castles is their coexistance with nature, they fit in the landscape as if they were always there, unlike european castles that tend to stand out from their surroundings.
CaptainVincentRiley I understand, but in Italy, especially from the Renaissance, untamed nature was perceived as brutish and uncivilized, thus all castles and important buildings have extremely orderly and artificial gardens, that purposefully do not blend in with the environment.
Samurai Castle sounds really odd to me as a phrase... Japanese Castles maybe? (Or Asian Castles if going out of that region a bit?) Like your videos though, thanks for uploading. Like your new hair too! (Or is it new.... the last video of yours I saw is probably a year old).
I am watching in Global Pandemic year 2020 now, looking back to 2018, a year when you still could take a flight to foreign countries without too much hassle.
out of topic question, i wonder if people ever weared multiple chainmail vests. when they had no plate armour to protect them. i dont see a reason not to wear like 2 vests, its better then one, right?
I see castles, I click to watch.
Ahaha but of course :D
Metatron what was it like being back in Japan?
*+Shadiversity* But what about DRAGONS?
Shadiversity please follow up with a castle review of Himeji Castle.
ZA BATORU OVU SEKIGAHARAAA
You went to Japan to film this?! OMFG... Thank you Metapatrons!
Yea he was flexing on everyone on Instagram.
LOL
One of the things that bothers me the most about this matter is the sheer number of castles that did not survive! I would have loved to see Kasugayama castle, a mountain citadel and one of the biggest most powerful castles in Japan...
Well we will have to make do with the ones that survived, and Himeji is a piece of art. I greatly enjoyed this video and I do have to say, you chose a good time to visit, i recall repairs and maintenance finished not too long ago so the castle looks whiter than usual! Great video man!!
Nothing says we can't build one
I know what you mean, but I can't help but feel it will not be the same...
@@烏梨師斂 wrong. When the Tokugawa Shogunate took over they ordered the daimyo to demolish nearly all of their own castles except for one per region to make sure said daimyo couldnt amass power. This was during the Edo period, almost 250 years before the "big, bad, tewwible dum b americans" came over.
This is why we need a time machine
@@laniusmaxon5281 sadly Tokugawa did it to maintain control after his victory to be the Shogun of Japan
This Is Bloody Excellent content. Definitely happy my patreon money helped fund this!
Dropped here to say hi after your "Shogun" trailer review.
Expected long hair, got familiar voice in young body.
Anyway... Hi 🖖
And since this is the White Crane castle, if you're taking the Shinkansen to Kumamoto, a stop at the Black Crow Castle in Okayama might be fun. Much smaller, but with an amazing sakura garden (in spring) in the feudal household next to the castle. And the whole castle is black, to contrast directly with Himeji Castle.😉
Excellent as usual!
Roma Aeterna!
I love the intro "Let's go to Japan altogether!" when everyone was thinking that we would have a regular video ;). thanks to those who made this possible!, that was a total surprise! :) :) :)
I did notice there were an overabundance of Roman paraphernalia for a video about Japan, lol.
Hey Metatron, glad you could make it back to Japan. I’ve been missing the place a lot ever since I went there for the first time. BTW this is your old chap, Anz Bryan
Damn, this premium format is awesome.
I consider myself lucky to have been able to visit Himeji Castle in person.
It was truly an awesome experience!
Just for some clarification..... The tenshu was not the full time residence of the daimyo in most castles like this. There was another building on the grounds called the goten, often translated into English as palace, that was the daimyo's residence, leisure, study, offices, ect... If I remember correctly, the goten was typically, albeit not always, in the nihonmaru. The thenshu was a military building to be used in times of war. Again this is for this type of castle, the late 16th century and later. There were however a few exceptions. Oda Nobunaga had residences in the tenshu of both Gifu (the first castle of have a tenshu) and Azuchi castles when he was there, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi had a residence in the tenshu of Osaka Castle for when he was there.
I’m a tour guide who’s going to Himeji Castle this week with customers, this was very helpful!
Yup, use the terrain to funnel opponents into kill zones. Even the gardens could be designed that way. Good solid, thorny hedges can be quite effective, even today. Always wondered if they ever used rice paddies as a sort of moat.
Probably.
I would.
And I'd cultivate raspberries and roses specifically to get nastier thorns as well as bigger, tastier berries.
My second favourite castle ever!! Great work Raph!!!
Metatron is a man of the people
It's really cool that you actually went to Japan!
This will forever be my favorite spot in Japan.
This is great. Reminds me of those documentaries you'd watch in elementary school.
So cool! Great video, Metatron! You have some really great footage here. cant wait to see the others!
I absolutely love your videos. So informative and interesting.
Thx for making new videos,I'm a huge fan of yours since the historically roman videos :)
Awesome trip and history lesson.
This is intriguing, metatron. The history of Japan is amazing.
One more thing, Metatron. If it’s not too much ask, would you make your videos every day? I know your busy but you're like my favorite tv show. Could you do that for your fans and I?
Thanks,
Elijah C. Brooks
Kudos for your work Metatron!
This is awesome! Thank you Metatron :)
Wonderful video. Keep up work like this. The greater the detail and insights that you can bring to your videos the more they will be enjoyed and shared. On a personal note, two thumbs up, cheers and applause for you on your new (new to me anyway) hairstyle. I also would say that the clean shaven look shows you to be most handsome, while retaining your youthful charm. Keep up the great work !
Congratulations on 300k subs man! ❤️
I've been waiting for this.. THANK YOU!
Finally!!! Thanks for this great content!
Very beautiful ! I loved it and hope u get to go to the other castles very soon in the furture ! I say a job well done
I remember doing a school project on this, why did you have to bring back horrible memories!
One cool thing to show if you're near Osaka castle are the blocks that have been thrown down (and thus were not destroyed during the bombing of the castle during WWII and subsequent rebuild with concrete), as they have maker's marks from the people who supplied it. Pretty interesting.😉
I love Himeji Castle! Went there a year ago, incredibly beautiful and functional all at once!
Thank you for you sharing some experience and knowledge!
Exquisite architecture and wonderful nature, so serene. Grazie e buon viaggio.:)
nice video, and a really interesting topic.
So cool! You went to the Castle in person:)
Awesome content, and I love seeing these amazing places up close.
But I noticed something... I think it's about time you updated Chibi Metatron so he reflects your current appearance.
Excellent video
When you did the night shot of the castle, it would have been cool to see it all lit up with torchlight, like it would have been back then. The modern spotlights really light it up though.
9:45 What about Takeshi's castle?
Ooo so that's why you spread your wings, back to land of nippon
Very nice video! Would have loved to see more about the layout of the castle, a top down view or a map would be great. -If-When you travel to the other castles (hopefully you'll get enough support to do both!), it would be great if you could film more in detail and explain where in the castle your are, what function that part has etc.. Kinda what you did in this video, but with much more detail and some sort of map to more easily orient us viewers!
Good luck on funding the other two videos, I'll see what I can chip in with :)
I know you don't have 300K sub rn but when you hit it congrats dude!
but what about "duragon" desu??!
Dragon is Ryou in Japanese
@@ousamadearudesuwa
Duragon = Dragon. Ryu is another type of dragon, Asian type dragon like you see in dragon ball. While Dragon is European type dragon.
Oh, wait. I think I should refrain myself because you know Japanese culture better than me.
@@ousamadearudesuwa
BTW, Ryou or Ryō is not the same as Ryu.
@@ExcelonTheFourthAvalonHeirs nah you are quite correct, I mispelled and make mistakes on Japanese Folklore.
@@ousamadearudesuwa
You know what? The person above you, he make that comment as joke while you respond it so serious and you make mistake as you try to correcting him.
*Slow clap
hi metatron, i have watched a lot of your videos and i think they are great and educational,but i havent seen one about the medieval period roman empire(byzantines) and i would love to see a video about their tactics,castes,armor,weapons and all the wonderful thinks you cover in your videos.thanks and keep it up
it's incredible the current condition of the castle which is almost 1000 years old, really nice one
Man, I just visited this last tuesday! Yup, it was awesome.
Great content as usual. I just wish it were longer. You'd think a trip all the way to Japan would merit a video longer than 11 minutes.
I would have loved to have seen a top down view of the strategic wall placement. Perhaps you could do a video on that. Great video as always!
He should commission Shad to recreate the castle along with its walls and moats in 3D so that he can do this in a future video.
I'm conflicted about this one, especially since you'd like to make a series out of it. After watching the video, I felt, that I still yet to see the castle... The video is very informative in Metatron quality, but you show us very little of the castle compared to how much time you've spent there. I have no idea what you're allowed to film and where to go within the castle. No shots from the inner rooms, like how they look, from the inner courtyards, or to be amazed by the maze that you're talking about... lots of shots out of focus, but maybe it's cool from an artistic point of view I don't know, just feels odd...
I hope that you plan to make a part two video, where you show more of the castle.
Don't get me wrong, you deserve these trips for the amount of quality content you made for us throughout the years, but the castle videos could be a lot more... in my eyes anyway...;)))
Thank you for your hard work, Metatron!
Very beautiful. It doesn't really look like a defensive structure and it's defensive features have to be pointed out to be noticed.
Guys WTF this is amazingly high quality content and for free and after one week there are only like 10k views? Internet still amazes me.
his scripts are mostly from wiki
Sto leggendo vagabond, qualche video sul castello Himeji non poteva mancare! ed ovviamente salta fuori un tuo vecchio video xD
I do not think a triangle arrow port is as efficient as the vertical rectangles angled on the inside.The walls are amazing I never knew no mortar was used wow. Wonderful travel VLOG Metatron ! How surprised would the locals be seeing you in your Samurai armor there?
Ah I went to himeji castle two weeks ago! Such a beautiful place.
Minor correction: There was no "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" in 1581, it was Hashiba Hideyoshi, he didn't change his name to Toyotomi until around 1586 or 87
@Joshua JO
Indeed, it's literally the same man with a name-change.
This man straight up went to japan for the sake of a video, what a legend
Himeji Castle is great and also the city around it its so relaxing there and not so busy like tokyo or osaka. By the way if someone was wondering why there are fish sculptures on the cornrs of the roffs this are dragonfish there function was to protect the castle from fire and every japanese castle had them well we all know how effective that was most of the other castles ;)
Fantastic!
Next time maybe include a top down view of the castle. It will help to show the complex layout of the castle
I love that you went back to Japan to film this, thank you. However, I think you missed an opportunity to document your experience returning to Japan. Perhaps you can say how it felt like comming back, but thanks for the video.
Amazing!
That intro: 2+2=4, 4-1=3 quick maths, everyday Shad&Metatron on the Castles, smoke enemies.
Raffaello, if I may make a suggestion! How about for historical authenticity and for entertainment, how about you cover the next episodes in Japanese with English and Italian subtitles?
Beautiful🌍🌍🌍🌍
From a defensive standpoint, the only thin that would concern me about this castle design would be if the enemy really wanted to burn it down or if the First Crusade somehow showed up with a trebuchet.
In Japan they could build the internal structures of their castles higher than their walls because the country is very mountainous, so armies weren't able to pull around large artillery like trebuchets. In the Mediterranean and Europe, however, artillery was a very real threat which is why the castles of those regions tend to be more reticent regarding how tall their internal structures are.
Great video.
I was born in Himeji, and now also live in Himeji.
Thank you so much for introducing our Himeji Castle.
We also call Himeji Castle "Shirasagi-Jo" which means "Castle of Egret".
Many movie directors chose Himeji City to take Japanese Samurai movies,
the most famous one is "Last Samurai" taken by Tom Cruise.
Furthermore, Himeji has many traditional cultures.
If you are curious to come to Himeji for Sightseeing, please check the website below;
www.himeji-kanko.jp/en/
Yay field trip!
Himeji, always my favourite castle here in Japan. Amazingly beautiful, and with an amazing history! Sadly the armament displays have been greatly reduced since the refurbishment that finished in 2016...
excellent contenu bravo!!
pour l'anecdote je retournais a Kyoto depuis Hiroshima et la une japonaise, voyant à ma tête que j'était pas un autochtone, me secoue pour me montrer ce château par le hublot de Shinkansen et elle a tiré son mari (en le réveillant en sursaut le pauvre) pour que j'en fasse une photo
dedication Level 1000..
Raph feeling the nostalgia once he returned to Japan
Raf which songs did you use for the background music, and where did you get them? Awesome video and thanks so much for this amazing info!
Always strategic to build your castle on top of the highest hill you can find. Then if you are under attack you just roll big rocks and logs down the hill at them lol
should definately check out the Odawara castle too!
keep being shaved teen metatron
very very good camera angles of the castle
Weren't you going to do a video on Japanese women's underwear or something a few years ago? I might be thinking of something else but I'm pretty sure it was you.
I'm still waiting for that, even if it wasn't you that said it.
Hey Metatron, do you know Tenchu? It has castles and japanese manors on it, not the finest but worth a look.
Awesome! And what did you eat there?
It's great seeing someone covering japanese castles. But I was wondering a couple of things. What did they use for Machiculations and did they ever include some sort of parapet? Also, if you do end up getting funded, could you do some videos on ruins and how they met their fate?
It’ll be awesome if you would make a video discussing Chinese castles since you also know some things about Chinese culture.
Ik went There last November. It is a very pretty and large Castle. It was also fun toch see how all the defensieve positions interlocked and howe alle the paths where funneled to very deadly eareas for the atackers. Also i went to kamumoto. Sadly was the kamumoto Castle closed due to damage from a earthquakethe year before. And IT Will be decades before al the damage is repaires. Is kamumoto open again for visitors?
Saw this on my one cup sake and had to look it up on TH-cam lol
"Let's just go to Japan!" Well, that escalated quickly!
Imagine what you could do if you didn’t have any kids. Couldn’t say let’s go to blah blah anymore. Lol
Can you make video about siege or siege weapon in Japanese history.
When you arrive to Matsumoto station, does still the intercom shouts Matsumoto(again, and again and again)?
good video
one thing I envy to japanese castles is their coexistance with nature, they fit in the landscape as if they were always there, unlike european castles that tend to stand out from their surroundings.
I don't know, some of the castles I've seen in Irland seemed like extensions of the cliffs to me, like they were always intended to be built there.
CaptainVincentRiley
I understand, but in Italy, especially from the Renaissance, untamed nature was perceived as brutish and uncivilized, thus all castles and important buildings have extremely orderly and artificial gardens, that purposefully do not blend in with the environment.
Very true, they were definitely built beautifully in this fashion
is someone living there now?
I notice you didnt show much at all of the interior.
Is it possible to go inside at all ?
Metatron if you do read this I have a question and one I’ve wanted to know for almost 3 years now.
Did all samurai wear Mempos?
This video is very interesting. What a pitty that most of the images are blurred :(
I don't think it's true that most of the images were blurred, only a few were.
Samurai Castle sounds really odd to me as a phrase... Japanese Castles maybe? (Or Asian Castles if going out of that region a bit?)
Like your videos though, thanks for uploading. Like your new hair too! (Or is it new.... the last video of yours I saw is probably a year old).
すごい!
I am watching in Global Pandemic year 2020 now, looking back to 2018, a year when you still could take a flight to foreign countries without too much hassle.
Matsumoto castle, best castle.
out of topic question, i wonder if people ever weared multiple chainmail vests. when they had no plate armour to protect them.
i dont see a reason not to wear like 2 vests, its better then one, right?
Yes, many knights did