If you want to experience the splendor of Japanese castle architecture, visiting the Himeji Castle is inarguably the best way to do it. Not only is it the finest surviving castle from ancient Japan, it’s literally lived through everything from the civil war and the great earthquake of 1995 to heavy bombing during World War II. Its hilltop location, extensive feudal-era defense systems, and massive size makes it an absolutely fascinating place to explore, all while being an utter feast for the eyes with its brilliant white exterior. While you would have to travel to the Far East to bask in all its glory, you can get a taste of the castle life during the heyday of the samurai with the LEGO Architecture Himeji Castle.
That’s right, LEGO’s newest Architecture set lets you recreate the largest castle in all of Asia. Looking like a set piece straight out of a samurai movie, this model beautifully captures feudal Japan’s unique architecture. Seriously, I can picture an army of Samurai minifigs battling it out on the grounds below the hill, making this quite the special treat for architecture fans and admirers of Japanese warrior culture alike.
The LEGO Architecture Himeji Castle is a detailed model of the heavily-fortified hilltop castle, so you can bring the majestic beauty of the revered structure into your tabletop. It doesn’t recreate the whole complex, as that would be a tad too much with its 83 buildings. Instead, they focused on the upper level of the massive castle grounds, showing off the main hilltop structure and its immediate surroundings. Basically, you recreate the main castle, which would be the highlight of the whole thing anyway.
You get to build the main castle with all of its funky architectural features, from the curvy roofs and asymmetric walls to the long corridors and the fancy turrets. Combined with its elevated structure, this thing looks like it’s ready to handle another samurai attack.
The LEGO Architecture Himeji Castle has a viewable interior that can be accessed by removing the top three floors of the main building. According to LEGO, they can only muster a simplified version of the interior, as the real thing is far more complex than they can handle at this size and scale. Truth be told, the exterior is the real prize here, as a feudal-era Japanese castle is quite the rare thing as far as buildable models are concerned. Plus, we love how the structures are elevated via the hilltop placement, giving it a real fortified feel.
Around the hilltop castle is a surrounding garden with cherry trees, green foliage, and pink cherry blossoms, although we’d have preferred to fill that with battling samurais and a filled littered in blood and destruction. It comes with a total of 2,125 pieces, so this will require you to hunker down and channel your inner samurai for a bit, with the finished model measures 12.5 x 7.5 x 10.5 inches (width x height x depth). Sadly, there are no minifigs included, so you’ll have to find your own Japanese warriors to build a proper diorama (maybe your LEGO Ninjago minifigs can tide you over until you find actual samurais).
The LEGO Architecture Himeji Castle comes out in August, priced at $159.99.