Japan Day 17: Castles and Cherry Blossoms

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Trees are bursting into blossom all over Japan and we're lucky enough to be here to see the blossoms and to have time to appreciate them. I didn't realise until I got here how big a deal the blossom season was not only for visitors but even more so for the Japanese themselves. 

We spent the morning exploring Mutsayama Castle, a 500+ year old fortress which had survived the centuries largely intact, quite an achievement for an ancient building built largely of wood and therefore vulnerable to fire. Not to mention battle attacks back in the days of warring Japanese fiefdoms.

In a very touristic introduction to such a significant monument, we caught a chairlift to the bottom of the castle fortifications, saving ourselves the walk up the hill. This was both exciting and somewhat scary, perched on a slippery plastic chair swinging above the ground while more sensible people sailed past in a fully enclosed gondola.


Traffic.

From the chairlift we wound our way up through the defensive ramparts, thanking our lucky stars that no-one was raining arrows on us, or pouring boiling oil as we attempted to storm the massive wooden doors. The blossoms put on quite a show as we wound our way through the castle defences.





Up at the top there was still plenty of space for picnic tables, ice cream shops, and of course the ubiquitous vending machines.


Eventually we entered the inner gates of the castle through yet more massive wooden doors and a series of false turns designed to trap and confuse assailants while the castle defenders rained death and destruction from above.




From there we were into the castle proper, winding upward via staircases steep enough to be rightly called ladders. Roger began to show signs of nervousness, treading on creaking 500 year old boards and mumbling about heights and earthquakes. From the windows we had fantastic views out across Mutsayama to the mountains and around to the sea.



Museums on the internal floors showed us what life was like for some of the castle inhabitants: from mundane letters about stores and domestic feif management to sumarai swords and examples of armour worn to battle.

Come at me dressed like that and I'd probably die of fright long before my head was chopped off.

Light rain started to fall as we made our way down the hill, past a temple where the obligatory temple cat came out to say hello. We spent the afternoon wandering around the shops and trying to ride the Kururin Ferris Wheel. No such luck there, it was closed due to the risk of lightning. Indeed, thunder burbled above us as we wandered back home through the covered malls, with some surprising moments to lift us at the end of the day.


Dinner was disgustingly greasy fried chicken but I guess you have to get unlucky sometimes. At least I got to practice my chopstick skills (still Ls, but improving).

Oh all right, just a few more castle/blossom pictures.








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