There are some nice people where I work. Unfortunately I don't get to see them except to say a quick hello. But I was able to arrange a day out with two of them. We went to Inuyama Castle which (along with Hikone Castle where I used to live) is one of the few remaining original castles left in Japan.
We stopped at a shrine on our way to the castle.
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| View from the top of the castle. |
Another shrine as we left.
Inuyama is a nice little town and they have an 'old town' area with shops, restaurants and some old buildings.
You know me, there isn't a shrine/temple I don't stop at... this one has Chinese influence. Evidently the walkway is crooked for fengshui reasons - so the luck doesn't run straight out or so the evil doesn't have a straight path in. There was a man (a priest or gardener - I'm not sure) who gave us a 30 minute or so 'tour' of the place which was quite interesting. One of the most interesting things he told us (in my opinion) was that Teinoheika (the Japanese word for their emperor) doesn't really mean emperor. The Japanese used to believe that the emperor was descended from the sun god Amaterasu, can't be killed or dethroned, but an emporer can, so emperor isn't the word that should be used.
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| The emperor's palanquin (?) would be carried over this so that he could head up to heaven (it's tilted upwards) |
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| Lunch (sorry it's sideways) was grilled tofu with miso sauce (dengaku), and other assorted yummy things. |
The next day I met my Hikone friend Shioli in a town called Gifu. Actually not that far from Inuyama. We went to Gifu castle which has been restored and is museum like inside. On the way up we met this shogun and ?
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| The views were pretty nice up there too. |
It was quite hot, but luckily there was some good ice cream at the top of the little mountain!
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