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present-day grand castle in the early 1600s. This was a period this sublime form of architecture, of the thousands that dotted
of feverish castle construction, as vying lords feuded with the Japanese landscape during Japan’s feudal period.
each other for advantage, employing thousands of samurai to Castles gradually faded over the ensuing centuries,
press their causes. however, falling to earthquake, fire and lassitude. In the latter
In 1609, when Himeji was completed, Japanese castles 1800s, when political power was returned to Japan’s emperor
were as common as Beverly Hills swimming pools. Today during the Meiji Restoration, ending the rule of shoguns –
only a dozen castles stand as authentic representatives of military dictators – the new emperor regarded the old castles

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