Qibla direction in Himeji

How to face the Qibla in Himeji

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 20.4° towards north: the result is the bearing of 290.4°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 20° off.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Himeji to Mecca points to 260.9° (west), a full 29.5° away from the true Qibla of 290.4° (west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 300 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Himeji first heads west, and that is the direction to face.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 34.8167° N, 134.7000° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Himeji to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 9,089 km from Himeji as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 8,918 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 11 h 12 min, although most pilgrims from Himeji connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Himeji run 6 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Himeji rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Himeji

On 72 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Himeji while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in June (30 days); for example, on 1 June 2027 it happens at 18:15 local time.

On 263 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in March (31 days), for instance on 15 February 2027 at 07:24.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Himeji: at 18:18 and 18:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Himeji compared with other cities

Compared with Tokyo, 463 km away, the Qibla in Himeji is turned 2.6° further anticlockwise (290.4° against 293.0°), and Mecca is 385 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Akashi (33 km), prays towards 290.6°, a difference of 0.2°.

Across the 154 cities in Japan on this site, the Qibla ranges from 288.1° in Sasebo to 295.3° in Kushiro, a spread of 7.2°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Japan.

Qibla in cities near Himeji

• Akashi290.6° · 33 km
• Kobe290.7° · 46 km
• Sandachō290.7° · 49 km
• Takarazuka290.8° · 60 km
• Tsuyama290.0° · 69 km
• Kishiwada290.8° · 72 km