18 March Himeji Castle and Hiroshima

On the 18th of March I sadly said goodbye to the lovely Hostel, and to the wonderful city of Kyoto. I gathered together all my luggage and set off for another few shinkansen trips to my next stop, Hiroshima. I decided that as I was going past Himeji (almost) that I should stop and see what is easily one of the most famous castles in Japan. Himeji turned out to be quite an interesting city, and I think I would go back and spend more than half a day there if I ever get the chance. The main tower of the castle was under repair, but creatively the scaffolding had a life sized image of what the tower looked like. The parts that I was able to explore were beautiful and the story of the castle is fascinating, particularly the love story of Princess Senhime who was born in 1597.

*The castle moat and high, sloping stone walls*

*The main tower covered by scaffolding*

*The front gate*

*One of the cats I shared my lunch with*

*View of the moat, looking towards the front gate*

 *An old map/illustration of the layout of Himeji castle, it was one of the best designs for defense (apparently)*

*Just in case you were thinking of scribbling*

*The beautiful corridors in Senhime's personal wing of the castle*

*The outside of the same corridor, Senhime's wing*

*Mannequins showing Senhime and her lady in waiting playing a card game. Not only did Senhime marry for love after her first husband killed himself while Osaka Castle burned, she also smoked and gambled, and really liked cats* 

*Proof that I was there and that it was freezing cold*

After eating my lunch in the castle grounds surrounded by cats, I went next door to a beautiful garden. It had various garden 'rooms' in different styles of Japanese gardening, with different 'moods'. It was so beautiful, and as usual I took hundreds of photos in an attempt to capture just a little of its beauty.

*Those Koi were HUGE, at least 50cm or more*

*My favourite flower in the whole garden, I wish I knew the name!*

On the way back to the station I spotted this oddity: A statue of a naked man playing the saxaphone...

When I finally arrived at my hotel in Hiroshima it was almost dark, the view was wonderful, as you can see below. I then set off to have the local specialty, Hiroshima style Okonomiyaki. In the restaurant I sat alone (as usual) but the lady who owned the restaurant sat another lone traveller beside me, and that is how I made a new friend, Yuichi.

*Yuichi and Me*

17 March Fushimi Inari Shrine and Thousands of Torii Gates

The 17th of March was my last day in Kyoto, I had originally planned to spend a night staying in a temple, however due to the need to have access to Skype as the disaster unfolded in the Fukushima area I opted to stay another night in the Hostel. My adventure for the day was another iconic destination for tourists who visit Kyoto. Even though I spent a week in Kyoto in 2009, I spent most of that time in Arashiyama and the outer suburbs, and thus missed a lot of the main 'attractions'.

Fushimi Inari Shrine is often referred to in brochures as the Shrine of a Thousand Gates, however when you are there you realise that there are MANY thousandS of torii gates. There are enormous ones that are a few storeys high and tiny ones no bigger than my hand, and they are EVERYWHERE. I spent about 3 or 4 hours walking up and down pathways all around the mountain side and I still did not see every torii gate in the area. The main shrine is said to bring luck or wealth to businesses, so the torii gates are actually donated by businesses who want some luck. I took hundreds of photos and a couple of videos, but as they will probably mostly look the same I will just include a smallish selection of photos and one video at the end.

*An actual photo of me, just to prove I really was there* 

*This is my favourite photo, it gives you a better idea of what it felt like to be there, in the forest walking under these bright orange gates that form a tunnel*

*These were mini torii gates, about 20 or 30cm tall, which were hanging on racks*

*View of Kyoto city from the top of the mountain*

*Fox statues are common at Shinto Shrine*

*I walked along the left hand tunnel, and the video of that walk is below*

 

16 March Traditional Arts Performance in Gion

On the 16th of March not much really happened during the day, I contacted my travel insurance company, and the airline to try and change my flights without having to pay extra. I also spent a lot of time on Skype trying to reassure everyone that I was fine, and that their entire country was no affected in the same way as the North East. While it will not be remembered as the most enjoyable day that I spent in Japan, it did end well.

While on the walking tour of Gion we had been shown a large theatre in which traditional performances were held. I decided that given how much I enjoyed the Maiko dances in Atami, that I would like to see some other art/music/dance styles as well. I cannot remember the name of all of the different performances, and I may have some wrong, so please correct me, if you know the correct terms.

*The streets of Gion on a rain soaked night*

*Bunraku Puppet show*

*The beautifully painted/embroidered stage curtain*

*Tea Ceremony*

*Two Geiko playing Koto*

*Ikebana, Flower arranging*

*The 'Hayashi' band for the 'Noh' play*

* Noh actor*

*The Noh performance*

*Another style of play, a comedy*

*Maiko dancing*