Even more species hunting adventures in Japan: Himeji.

The day before we headed back to Tokyo, we caught the Shinkansen in the morning again. This time our destination was Himeji, where we would spend the day visiting its famous castle and some of the bodies of water in the surrounding area.

Himeji castle is Japan’s best preserved feudal castle. Despite the city being bombed during World War II, the castle escaped unscathed. Standing for over seven hundred years, it has also survived natural disasters.

Walking around the castle grounds, you eventually make it to the main keep and can make your way up to the top via several sets of very steep wooden stairs. The views of the castle's surroundings from the top were great, but it was the magnificent decorative Shachihoko, large creatures with the body of a fish and the head of a tiger, that caught my eye.

We'd spot more of these decorative Shachihoko around the city later in the day.

Heading back down the wooden staircases again, we eventually made it back outside and ended up in the large courtyard directly in front of the castle. Himeji Castle is very photogenic so we took a few more photos.

 Also known as the White Heron Castle, Himeji Castle is Japan's largest and most visited castle. 

Leaving the castle grounds, we spent some time wandering around the beautiful Koko-en Gardens. A potential fishing opportunity did present itself inside, but we decided not to take it. By this point it was early afternoon, so when we left the gardens and found a nearby restaurant where we treated ourselves to some unagi.

Koi carp would have been our ninety-ninth species of the trip, but we decided against fishing in the garden's pond!

Grilled eel with barbeque sauce over rice. Served with miso soup and two small side dishes. It was very tasty.

Sightseeing out of the way, it was time for a relaxing stroll along some of the bodies of water around the castle. Obviously, fishing in the moat directly in front of the castle was out of the question, but we did see some grass carp, bluegill and largemouth bass in there as we walked along beside it. We decided to go to some quieter areas to the north of the castle, where I thought we could quickly pull some bluegill out using a piece of line, a split shot and a small hook baited with a piece of pink power isome. After walking for about ten minutes, we found a suitable spot with nobody around. Quickly setting up our simply hand held rig, the bluegill present weren't shy. Dropping a small section of bright pink isome down the side, it quickly vanished, and tugging upwards on our line when it did, we rapidly caught a few before making a quick exit.

The bluegill is considered to be one of Japan's most invasive species. 

Heading away from the castle and its moat, we headed northeast towards a canal that I thought might also hold some fish. On the way, we walked through Shirotopia Memorial Park, where we passed an amazing tree. 

Just a random tree, but I thought it looked stunning!

Arriving at the canal, it wasn’t particularly deep, and the water was crystal clear. There was no sign of any fish initially, but then a small group of grass carp appeared from further along the canal to our right. Quickly rigging up a single rod and tying on a 15lb leader with a chinu hook at the business end, I tossed in a few pieces of bread to see how the fish would react. Every single piece was hovered up very quickly, so I put a piece on my hook and flicked it out. It didn’t take long for a grass carp to swim over and take it into its mouth, and I quickly set the hook. After a short scrap, species number one hundred of the trip was on the bank. 

Species number one hundred of the trip and new personal best grass carp for me into the bargain!

Ryan was keen to catch one too, but the commotion my grass carp had caused had spooked the other fish away from where we were and coloured up the water too, so we baited his hook and walked along the water’s edge. It didn’t take us too long to locate another group, and flicking his bait towards them, a few of them went straight for it and Ryan soon had one hooked. After a brief fight, Ryan had landed a grass carp of his own. 

Ryan's first ever grass carp! A nice fish on ultra light tackle, but pound for pound, they don’t fight that well.

The mouth of a grass carp is quite strange. They’re primarily herbivorous, but like most fish with specialised dietary habits, they are also opportunistic feeders too. 

After putting Ryan’s fish back, we started walking back towards Himeji Station. After spending some time in a clothing shop, and a short shinkansen ride later, we were back in Osaka again. In the evening went out for dinner to a shabu shabu restaurant.

Wagyu beef hotpot. A fantastic meal to end our time in Osaka. 

Heading back to our apartment, we had a bit of packing to do for our journey to Tokyo the following day. Taking the shinkansen again, at least we didn't have to worry about what we were packing into carry-on or checked luggage! The four of us had really enjoyed our time in Osaka and our day trips to Kyoto, Nara, Hiroshima/Miyajima and Himeji. Ryan and I had squeezed in a few short sessions, added twelve species to our tally, and reached the milestone of one hundred species during our time in Japan. With lots more sightseeing planned for our last couple of days in Japan, I wasn't sure we'd get an opportunity to add any more, but should an opportunity present itself...

Tight lines, Scott.