Naha's castle - Shuri castle (Shurijo - Naha, Okinawa 首里城)

As you know from a post last year (Charlies tacos), I took a trip down to Okinawa with good friend Tetsuya.  One of the places that we wanted to visit was Shuri castle.

Shuri castle was built back in 1429 and a lot of the structure has real similarities to Chinese architecture.  It was the palace of the Ryukyu kingdom until 1879 when Okinawa became part of Japan.  It was left mostly unused and deteriorated over time.  During the battle of Okinawa that devastated much of Okinawa, Shuri castle was heavily damaged.  In 1992, reconstruction commenced back to what it is today.

Tetsuya decided to brave the heat and visit the castle during the day.  I chickened out because of the heat and decided to visit later in the evening.  Jumping on the monorail I went all the way to the end, Shuri castle and started the short walk to its location.  Along the way I spotted some beautiful old style buildings.

Not sure what they were but they looked nice.  I kept on going and saw a sign pointing the way to the entrance of the castle.

I wasn't so sure, but I decided to trust the sign and continued on and things started looking a little better.

This looked a whole lot more Royal and closer to what I was expecting.  I rounded a corner and came face to face with this.

I stopped to say Hi to the Shisa at the entrance.

Shisa are traditional Okinawan guardians.  They represent lions and are often seen in pairs, one with it's mouth open, the other it's mouth closed.  The open mouthed one, like this one here, keeps evil spirits away while the open mouthed one keeps good spirits in.  I thanked him for his work and moved on inside the gates where I was greeted with this view.

Incredible!  And for it to be so quiet too!  It was almost like Okinawa was saying "Jason, here you are."

I bought a ticket (820 yen) to go inside and headed on in.

As with a lot of places at the moment, Shuri castle is undergoing renovations and the front part of the main castle was having some work done.

It is inevitable that tourist spots will have work done on them from time to time to keep them in top condition.  This, in no way, detracted from the experience that I was going through.  I moved on in to the castle itself and it was here that the mix of Japan and Ryukyu shone through.  This, very much Japan.

and this, very much Ryukyu.

Unfortunately for me, closing time was approaching so I made my way out of the castle

and back towards the station.

Okinawa has a unique culture and Shuri castle had just given me a unique experience. In fact it, and the people and the way of life, reminded me a lot of Australia and Australians.  I highly recommend visiting the castle in the evening.  Not only will you avoid the heat, but also the crowds and get a beautiful perspective of the castle lit grandiosely.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the photos (which don't really do the castle justice).  Please leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you, and please sign up on the right side of the screen to get email updates when I upload a new post.  Take care and see you next time.

One of Japan's top 100 castles - Hachioji castle (八王子城)

At the end of the last post I left a message inviting people to leave me a message with a letter of the English alphabet and a number.  What I would then do would be to find a train line in the Greater Tokyo area beginning with the letter provided and then find a station along the line that matched the number (train stations here recently have been given a designated number to assist foreign tourists make their way around.  I would then try to find something in the area to write about.  The first person to leave me a message was Ms B.  She left me B 22.  I searched long and hard around the Tokyo area for a train line beginning with the letter B, but no luck.  Sorry Ms B but I had to move on to the next letter in the alphabet, C.  Immediately I thought of the Chuo Line.  Now station number 22 happens to be Hachioji.  Next problem, what is there in Hachioji?  I started searching and found that Mount Takao is located in Hachioji city but I have already written about that (post can be found here).  A little more searching and I stumbled across Hachioji castle.  "What is this?" I mused, having not heard of Hachioji castle before.  I little more searching and I realised that this was it.  I was going to visit Hachioji castle!  I was also to find out that not many Japanese people know of Hachioji castle, even people who have lived in Hachioji city for years.  What a hidden gem!

Hachioji castle has a very short history, and a very violent finale.  Construction of the castle started in the 1570's by Ujiteru Hojo of the powerful Hojo clan.  The Hojo clan controlled most of the Kanto area which is comprised of Tokyo, Kanagawa to the south, Chiba to the east and Saitama and Gunma to the north.  Possessing such a large tract of land gave them a huge amount of power.  Their main castle was located at nearby Odawara but Ujiteru built Hachioji as a defensive fortress.  Located at the top of a mountain, it was thought that it would be much easier to fend off enemy forces.

Skip ahead to 1590 and another guy by the name of Hideyoshi Toyotomi was well on his way to unifying all of Japan under a central rule.  One of the final pieces of regional power left to fall was the Kanto area.  He marched 150,000 men to Odawara, surrounded the castle and started a waiting game.  He didn't attack the castle, just lay siege to it.  What he did do was to send a force of men around the Kanto area taking down each of the smaller Hojo family castles, slowly whittling away their power.  Our friend, Ujiteru Hojo heard this news and quickly made his way back to Odawara castle leaving a force of 1,300 men protecting Hachioji castle.  Hideyoshi Toyotomi sent two of his military commanders, Toshiie Maeda and Kagekatsu Uesugi, along with a force of 50,000 soldiers to take down Hachioji castle.  It fell in less than a day. This victory was influential in finishing the resistance of the Hojo family at Odawara caslte and they surrendered the next month.  A couple of weeks ago I paid a visit to Hachioji castle.

The nearest station to the castle is Takao station and while technically not station 22 (it is 24) it is within Hachioji city.  I met up with friends Tetsuya and Jarrett at Takao station and headed out the North exit to where the bus stop is.  We jumped on the bus (which is clearly marked in English "For Hachioji castle" and within 15 minutes we had arrived at the entry point to the castle.

We started in toward the castle and the forest was thick around us.

This is in the area where the front gate of the castle used to be.

Walking through here I could imagine the Hojo soldiers viewing the sight of the massive Toyotomi army marching toward the castle gates.  I could imagine them retreating from the front gates back into the main castle area.

The path kept winding up the hill toward the castle proper

eventually arriving at the last obstacle before reaching the castle, Hikihashi.

It was one final obstacle as the bridge was built so that it was easily collapsible, thus forcing attacking enemies to find an alternative way across the river to get to the castle, effectively buying the inhabitants a little extra time.  In this case, it was futile as Toyotomi's men soon found a way in, as did we.  We had it a little easier than those 427 years ago as those who had reconstructed the bridge in recent times kindly made it sturdier and non-collapsible.

Reaching the other side, we made our way up the stone stairs just as Toyotomi's men had 427 years ago.

and into the grounds of the main castle building.  All that remains now are a few foundation stones and the foundation of the main castle residence where Ujiteru Hojo lived.

The silence was mystical and mesmerising, while at the same time, sombre and haunting.  Just a handful of people wandering around wordlessly taking in the atmosphere of this place, this place which had been, historically, a crucial part of one of the most significant episodes in Japan's history, the re-unification of Japan under a centralised rule.

Turning around, I noticed a path leading back into the forest behind the castle so I wandered in to have a look.

I kept following it deeper into the tangle of trees and undergrowth

further deeper until the path started fading away

and I began to feel as though I might just about to have my own Blair Witch moment so I turned around and made my way back along the path and back into the clearing.  Heading off to the right I made my way down a path that led me away from the main area of the castle ruins.

In front of me was a worn path

that led to a waterfall.

It was here on that fateful day, in 1590, that thousands of soldiers and regular townsfolk fled to get away from the oncoming forces.  It was here that they took their own lives rather than be captured or killed by the enemy.  Exactly how many people died here that day is unknown, lost in time.  Some reports say 50,000 people died here (although that number may have been inflated by the sands of time).  Legend says that the river water ran red for 3 days after.

A memorial to the fallen, perhaps.

I made my way back down to the entrance of the castle area, again, surrounded by silence, a silence that cloaked what had happened all those years ago.

I think I will end this one here.  There is more to the castle are than I saw, I just had to leave when I did to get back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to the train station.  As it turned out, we had missed the last bus and had to walk back to Takao station!

Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoyed that Ms B.  That one was for you.  Please leave a comment below and tell me what you thought of this post about Hachioji castle.  Also, feel free to sign up for email updates when I put up a new post.  See you next time.

In pursuit of castles - Matsumoto castle (松本城)

My second day in Matsumoto began far too early as my alarm pierced the tranquillity of Sunday morning.  "No!" I thought, "I'm on holiday!".  So sacrificing breakfast I switched off the alarm rolled over and went back to sleep.

A couple of hours later I woke up as my alarm again made sure not only me, but the people in the rooms either side of me were awake.  After getting ready I set off for the castle, stopping at a nearby convenience store to grab a sandwich to take the place of my missed breakfast.  

Matsumoto castle is one of the more famous castles in Japan and is listed as a National Treasure of Japan.  It started it's existence in 1504 as a fort called Fukashi Castle.  It was a much smaller structure at that time.  Rule in the area changed hands in 1550 and Matsumoto Castle was built on the site.  It's construction was finished in 1594 and ownership was kept in the hands of the Feudal Lords from that point on.  At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, the feudal system was terminated and the castle was put up for auction.  Local residents began a campaign to save the castle and eventually the castle was acquired by the local government and has been maintained by them ever since.

Here's a little more info on the castle in a few different languages.  This sign is just outside the main gate of the castle.

I started around the other side of the castle from where I had stood the day before which provided me with a nice different view of the castle.

Being winter, and not a traditional holiday season, there were not too many people around, but there were a whole lot of pigeons

along with a couple of swans and some carp in the moat.

I continued walking around to the other side of the castle where the entrance to the castle is and suddenly had the distinct feeling that I was being followed so I turned around to take a look.....

Nope, no-one there.

Just before heading into the castle I took one last look around.  The view from this side was great, with the red bridge in the background and my 2 friends in the foreground.

Just through this gate I bought my ticket (610 yen, pretty reasonable!)

and finally, into the grounds.

What a winter wonderland it was inside, a blanket of white!

My path to the castle, however, was being blocked by a samurai.

I had not anticipated this and had come completely unprepared.  I had no idea that I would have to get past a samurai to reach the castle.  I waited until he was distracted and then made my move.....

Safe......

Up close, the castle was simply incredible and I lingered outside for a while just taking in it's beauty.

You can see in the above picture, small square and rectangular holes in wooden windows.  They are there for defence as this sign told me.

Interesting!!

One thing about Matsumoto castle is that it has lots of windows 

which is great as you can get a view of the stunning scenery outside, but if you visit in winter, like I did, dress real warm!!

Also, there are a lot of steep stairs to climb inside the castle

so unless you are a mountain goat or a Sherpa (of which I am neither), you really need to take great care climbing to the top of the castle, but once you get there, you are treated to  stunning views from windows on all 4 sides of the castle!

Also on the way up you there is a gun museum with a large collection of old guns

so if you are a into guns, you will enjoy these next few photos!

It is a very comprehensive collection that they have and all of the guns look in mint condition.

I made my way back down to the ground level again and back outside to be confronted with another danger.

I managed to out ninja the ninja and crept past without him noticing me....

I began to feel hungry and sought out a soba restaurant near the castle that had been recommended to me.  Nagano prefecture is famous for its soba as the water is very clear and pure in the area and I was keen to try it!  I found the restaurant nearby the castle entrance and luckily for me they had an English menu!

If a famous person walks into a restaurant in Japan the owners of the restaurant will quite often ask then to sign a card and write a short message on it.  This then gets placed on the wall as a sign of its quality to other diners and this restaurant had lots of them!

I went for a couple of the recommended dishes, trout sashimi

and soba with wasabi and local mountain herbs.

Now I am not a soba expert and I can't tell the difference between soba from Nagano and soba from somewhere else, but this soba was good!

Satisfied I left the restaurant and said goodbye to Matsumoto castle.  There was one other area of the city I wanted to check out before I returned to the hotel.  It on the other side of the station and had been recommended by a local business owner on a website I had seen.  I walked off and following my trusty English map, soon found Fukashi Shrine.

It was the area around the shrine that I wanted to check out so I continued exploring.  

This area of town was a really nice old residential area and I got quite a few confused looks from people as I wandered around.  I'm sure they thought that I must have been lost!

Nice!!

I walked back towards the hotel and power napped for an hour.  Lunch had well and truly settled by this time so I walked to a little neighbourhood restaurant I had heard about and settled into a huge home cooked meal.  The restaurant's name is Takuma.  You won't find it on any of the tourist maps, but I had read about it on tripadvisor.  The owners are a lovely older couple and the food is delicious!

All of that for less than 1,000 yen!!  The lady was really nice and complimented me on my (bad) Japanese.  The next day I was at the train station waiting to catch the train to my next destination and the same lady gets off a train that had just pulled into the station.  She saw me, came up to me wished me safe travels and told me to come back and visit again.  Lovely moment!

Feeling utterly stuffed full of food, I went back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

Matsumoto castle was great.  Again, pictures that I had seen (and these pictures here too) did not do it justice.  It is even more beautiful and grand in real life.  That's one castle ticked off the list!

Thanks again for reading.  I hope you enjoyed Matsumoto castle.  I will start work on part 3 of the Matsumoto trip soon.

See you next time!