What's the "inaka" [e-NA-ka] ? That would be the word for "countryside" in Japanese. As in a rural area where life is slow and the nights are quiet (well, except for the frogs). I live in the inaka.
And if you find yourself in the inaka there is a great website devoted to cataloging all the small-town sights you might otherwise miss. The Inaka Project is a picture-heavy travel guide website, in English, that focuses on small town sights, restaurants, onsens and festivals. There isn't one author, there are many, contributing from all over Japan. I highly recommend you check it out and contribute if you live here.
P.S. If you look hard, you might see an article or two with a familiar byline. :)
July 10, 2013
July 8, 2013
Japan's Castles
(I think it's been a month again. <sigh> I always hate it when bloggers slack off.)
So when you think about castles, ruined or otherwise, you probably think about Europe. They've got all the castles, right? Well, as it turns out, they do not.
Japan is literally covered in ancient castles. You may recall us visiting one in Okinawa in 2011. I mentioned a quasi-castle in my last post. There are so many castles that there is one about 15 minutes from my house (close to the children's park I blogged about here). Is there a castle 15 minutes from your house? I doubt it.
My local castle is called Kanayama and is in ruins. It was constructed on a mountaintop in 1469 by one Iwamatsu Iezumi. It was attacked a lot in the 1500's but stood strong until it was "decommissioned" in 1590, whatever that means. It's a national historic site and one of the more famous castles in this region of Japan. In person it's an interesting area to walk around, very nicely maintained and popular for walkers/joggers.
For more on Japan's castles there is a great website called J-Castle that maintains a really thorough database of them all. I hope to visit a few more before our time here is up!
So when you think about castles, ruined or otherwise, you probably think about Europe. They've got all the castles, right? Well, as it turns out, they do not.
Japan is literally covered in ancient castles. You may recall us visiting one in Okinawa in 2011. I mentioned a quasi-castle in my last post. There are so many castles that there is one about 15 minutes from my house (close to the children's park I blogged about here). Is there a castle 15 minutes from your house? I doubt it.
My local castle is called Kanayama and is in ruins. It was constructed on a mountaintop in 1469 by one Iwamatsu Iezumi. It was attacked a lot in the 1500's but stood strong until it was "decommissioned" in 1590, whatever that means. It's a national historic site and one of the more famous castles in this region of Japan. In person it's an interesting area to walk around, very nicely maintained and popular for walkers/joggers.
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| this reflection pond is part of the remnants of a rather massive irrigation system |
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| you can't really tell, but just past that sign is a really deep ditch. it was designed for invading samurai armies to fall into when they charged the mountain. |
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| there are lots of informative sign maps, all in Japanese |
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| the irrigation system |
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| at the top of the mountain, no idea who it is |
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| mostly, it's a lot of stone walls |
For more on Japan's castles there is a great website called J-Castle that maintains a really thorough database of them all. I hope to visit a few more before our time here is up!
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