White Emperor Castle Poem 犬山城　白帝城

Official explanation

Inuyama Castle is also known as “The White Emperor Castle” (Hakuteijo), a nickname given to it around the year 1700 by a Japanese Confucian scholar who likened the castle to Baidicheng, a Chinese fortress mentioned in a poem by Li Bai (below). Like Inuyama Castle, Baidicheng is located on a hill on the shore of a river. The similarities continue as the poem mentions monkeys, and the area around Inuyama is well-known for its population of primates.

Li Bai had been sentenced to death and wrote “Departing from Baidi in the Morning” in 755 while sailing down the Yangtze after he was pardoned. He expresses his joy in the opening of the poem:

Read the full explanation

“Departing from Baidi in the Morning”

This morning, I depart the town of Baidi, engulfed by vibrant clouds.

I return to faraway Jiangling within a single day!

From both banks the steady sound of monkeys fills the air.

Our little boat has already carried me past thousands of hilltops.

Li Bai (701–762), Chinese poet

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.