Tag: castle

広島と姫路: A Tale of Two Cities

Hiroshima, Mon Amour – the feeling of romance and mystery perhaps wasn’t as strong as in Marguerite Duras’ film as a heavy sky heralded in my arrival to this city, although I avoided the summer rains just long enough to take a quick and wholesome look around the city. Also, someone shouted this blog out on the Oxlove Facebook page, so if you’re the kind poster and you’re reading this, this one’s for you.

I’ll preface this with a disclaimer that I am yet to see the more important and meaningful parts of the city. That is to say, the Atom Bomb museum, Peace Park and the famous Atom Bomb Dome still await me. I think Friday is the day for that. Anyways, yesterday, I got out of Hiroshima station and took a leisurely walk towards Shukkeien and the ruins of Hiroshima Castle. It was still dry, so the Shukkeien Garden was a pleasant if not slightly sweaty time. But in the long line of Japanese-style gardens, this one is also just as hard to fault or dislike. 

Hiroshima Castle is described as a ruin on maps and on the internet, although what appeared before me was hardly a ruin. Sure, all the walls weren’t there, and some of the turrets were missing, but it’s easier for me to describe the castle in Kumamoto as a ruin compared to Hiroshima. The entireity of the main keep stood strong, imposing its five stories high above the rest of where the castle used to lie. Naturally it was all destroyed in the blast in 1945, but the reconstruction is so good that one could have thought it had been standing there forever. It’s at this moment that it started raining, and it seemed like a good idea to head back to the station before jumping on a train up to Kabe, where I have been warmly welcomed by the Yoshiokas, my host family until wednesday. My Japanese is really being put to the test now…

We ate, I showered, and went to bed, exhausted from finally being able to set myself down knowing that I didn’t have to move for a while now.

That didn’t last so long however, because at 10 this morning I hopped on a bullet train to Himeji – and and I’d like to sincerely thank whatever powers that be (God, Buddha, Shrek, or some nondescript deity who likes me) for letting the sun poke its shy head through the rainy season’s everlasting fog. I don’t think it would have been appropriate to see Himeji Castle, in six-story brilliant white glory in any other setting than in a blue sky. It doesn’t really need explanation. It’s huge, it’s beautiful, and I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot in awe at what I was witnessing and how lucky I was with the weather. 

The accompanying Kōkoen garden was sublime. Probably the most beautiful I have seen. And I can comfortably say, I’ve been to a fair few. It’s crazy how much just a little bit of sunshine can make even small rocks or mossy lawns glow in an entirely mundane yet sublime beauty, one that Sōetsu Yanagi would have probably been infatuated with. I’m also reading his writing at the moment; The Beauty of Everyday Things. It seems appropriate given that I’m getting a lot of rain and am trying my damndest to appreciate things that I can see even if it pours from above. 

It’s at this moment that it started raining like crazy, the moment I stepped out on to the platform at Himeji to go back to Hiroshima. It seems that I have made the most of my window of opportunity to experience real beauty, and that window seemed to have shut very abruptly and very timely on me. It seems that the one in charge of the weather thought I deserved a bit of relief.

Tomorrow I have no plans really, although I have a couple of ideas: Either I go to Osaka, or I want to return to Nagasaki to see the things I missed. I’m currently leaning more towards Nagasaki though, I felt like that city really clicked with me, and besides, it doesn’t feel right to give such a large city as Osaka only one day. Maybe that will be for the next time I come to Japan. In any case, who knows what tomorrow will bring ? The least I hope for is dry weather. 

熊本: Natural Disasters

Image result for kumamoto castle

The return of the rain to my trip might be pathetic fallacy to match my mood. I feel slightly creatively burnt out, and a little tired even though my spirits aren’t dampened. I want to try my best to update this as frequently as possible, but I think it’s reached that midpoint slump where I kind of miss things. In any case, my last two rainy days in Kumamoto have been interesting to say the least, and my mood is sure to perk up in the coming days as I prepare to meet my host family in Hiroshima on Monday.

I rode the Shinkansen (finally) after leaving Huis Ten Bosch, and I was literally in Kumamoto station in a matter of 30 minutes. Bullet trains are insanely cool. The woman next to me, also going to Kumamoto, agreed with me that it’s a bit like stepping into a spaceship or a teleporter. I immediately went to visit Kumamoto Castle, the stage for the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 that saw it burnt to the ground. Once again, many years later, this castle listed as one of Japan’s top three is partially devastated. Since 2016 when a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck Kumamoto prefecture, the castle has been in intense and precise repairs.

It doesn’t take away from the sheer scale of the castle, and the fact that it took a natural disaster of an unnatural scale to shake it to its foundations is impressive. Walls spilling out onto the moats, turrets completely erased and entire gates brought to their knees: one could just as well have been walking into the aftermath of a bloody battle. The cranes and scaffolds that now brace the ailing structure are a keen reminder of how much history this place has seen, and what it means to the people who live in its shadow every day.

It’s at this point that it decided to rain at a biblical scale for my second time during this trip. I barely made it on to the streetcar and back to the hostel, where I shamefully ran across the street later into the station to get some fried chicken for my dinner…

Luckily I woke up to a dry forecast, and decided to pick up where I left off yesterday. The Suizenji Jōjuen garden was in my plans, and it was worth it. Even with the overcast skies, there isn’t really much to complain about with this place. It felt like being in Tellytubby land, the picture will help you better understand what I mean.

Jumping back on the streetcar, almost identical to the ones in Nagasaki and every bit just as unstable, I also wanted to visit the residence of the Hosokawa clan, the last feudal lords of Kumamoto prefecture. Only a short walk away from the castle the estate felt like it would be an ample replacement for having been deprived of the view of Kumamoto Castle in all its glory.

I found it shut, also under scaffolds and tarps… the walls spilling over like water and the wooden structure twisted and splintered. A sorry sight, but a harsh reminder of the volatile environment that is Kumamoto, Kyūshu and Japan in general. The Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art had to do instead, with a brief but fascinating history lesson on the resident feudal lords of old.

It was also sad to read online that the famous Kumamoto Oysters that I wanted to try no longer existed in their place of origin. Extinct in Japan due to poor crop management and pollution in the Ariake sea, these delicious little oysters that are world-renowned simply aren’t a thing in Japan.

Arguably a more disappointing episode of this trip. But I have high hopes for my last few days alone, where I will go all the way south to Kagoshima and further, and the finally find myself in Hiroshima, which will be a good place to explore more of Western Honshu. I just hope the weather holds out !