Konnichi'wa, and sorry for the lack of blogs recently! As you may know, I have recently started writing for the Japan Info website, and so that has taken priority for now. http://jpninfo.com/
My posts on the Japan Info website:
Unusual holiday's in Japan: http://jpninfo.com/3942
Similarities and Differences between Japan and China: http://jpninfo.com/4025
Japan and Sweden: Kindred Spirits: http://jpninfo.com/3960
Shinjuku: a Quick Introduction: http://jpninfo.com/4240
So yes, those are my recent scribbling's.
I've also been super-busy recently with studies of other sorts. As well as ploughing on with Japanese, I am just about to finish a course about Australian Literature, I'm 3 weeks into a 6 week course on Linguistics, this month I'll start a course about how to teach languages to children who are dyslexic, and I'm also about to do a creative writing course. Phew, busy bee! All that on top of a full time job and trying to keep up with other hobbies such as reading, knitting, swimming, embroidering, cardboard furniture construction... etc.
Anyway. That's all from me now - time to get back to editing articles for Japan Info :D
Sayonara!
pic
Wednesday 15 April 2015
Wednesday 11 March 2015
Basashi (raw horse meat) at Yokobachi - More Amazing Food in Kumamoto!
Kon'nichiwa and, big surprise, once again I'm blogging about food. Eating out and trying new things is just about one of the best things about living abroad. I take great joy in eating well, and of course, in sharing my explorations with others. To illustrate this crucial part of my daily life: my colleagues at the new school I work at all laughed when I insisted on having my lunch break written on the timetable as a scheduled daily event (rather than, as is so often the case, just having to squeeze in a break whenever there is time because the person in charge of scheduling has forgotten that people tend to like to eat meals during the day and stuff.) When asked why it was necessary to have it written down, I pulled my gravest face and pointed at the lunch slot, saying “This... is the most important part of the day. If my meal break is forgotten, all hell will break loose. Food is very important.” So yes – once again let me share another fabulous meal that I had here in Kumamoto.
Recommended by our friend Phillip and cemented in our minds as a definite night-out choice as we walked past the restaurant every day (only 2 minutes from our house – restaurant address: 860-0845 Kumamoto-ken, Kumamoto-shi, 中央区上通町11−40 ), Yokobachi had been on the hit-list for several weeks before we got the chance to visit – giving us plenty of time to work up an appetite and also save up some pennies for our splash-out meal. More expensive than our usual haunts but worth it for a special occasion, we opted for the middle range set menu – 3,500 Yen per person for a 10 course meal (roughly £21 each.) We'd anticipated trouble in placing our order as the menu at the door was in Japanese only, but luckily for us, once inside we discovered that they had recently created an English menu, so we could order without qualms.
Our 10 course meal started with a salad. Yokobachi uses seasonal ingredients so what arrived wasn't exactly what was included on the set menu, but actually, I preferred what we got to what was supposed to come! The salad was a medley of crisp green leaves with mushy avocado, hiding fat prawns and chunks of chicken under a sprinkle of flaked almonds. With a juicy slice of lemon to dress, it made a perfect palate cleanser to start the meal. Being not much of a salad-person, I was thoroughly impressed.
Next up, sashimi. Sashimi, sashimi, sashimi. Oh my word. Five types of fish served in thick, generous slabs, presented on a rustic platter of woven twigs – I felt very decadent indeed. The mark of any good restaurant in Japan is the size of their sashimi slices, and Yokobachi did not disappoint. Crowning glory, as always, was the salmon – marbled with layers of fat that leaves a creamy taste on your tongue – we always save the salmon to last.
To follow – the next course was the whole reason we chose Yokobachi. A plate of basashi (馬刺し) – horse meat sashimi. Kumamoto is famous for its horse meat, and having it raw is naturally the way we chose to try it. The dish came with two types of basashi – one type a dark red colour and the other a light pink which was rippled with seams of fat. Served with lemon, raw red onion, garlic, ginger and spring onion, the flavours complemented each other completely. Basashi was very nice indeed, if a little chewy – but not something I'll be eating frequently. Naturally it is quite expensive, and for the price, not entirely worth it. I was more than happy to try it and would recommend other visitors to do the same, but as a general rule I think I'd rather spend the money on a nice piece of beef or some salmon sashimi.
Forth course was described as 'Fried Red Snapper'. I'm not entirely sure what we got, but it was delicious – a sort of squishy fishcake in a light batter, fried to perfection and crisping just the right amount. After that, skewered beef – mocha brown at the edges and rosy pink in the middle. A sort of barbecued, smoky taste – exquisitely mouth-watering. A strong, punchy flavour which greatly contrasts the subtle deliciousness of salmon sashimi. What a varied meal!
Next up, another highlight – Japanese hot pot. There are many types of Japanese hot pot, and the one we had was a shabu-shabu type (which translates as swish-swish, an onomatopoeic word relating to the sound of meat being swished back and forth in the broth as it cooks.) The meat was horse meat – a generous amount of generous slices, served with onion, greens, tofu and kelp. I preferred eating horse meat in this style to the raw pieces – it soaked up the broth well and the hot pot was so plentiful it could have been a meal in itself!
From there, a switch back to seafood – raw oysters, nestled on plinths of salt, served with lemon. For our last savoury dish – a bowl of plain rice which was mixed in the leftover shabu-shabu broth and raw egg swirled into it as it finished warming through. For our final dish, a pudding consisting of a dark, chewy jelly (coffee flavoured perhaps? It was hard to tell), creamy almond pudding that was like sweet white custard, and a handful of goji berries on top. A nice, light dessert to follow a massive meal. We certainly got our money's worth!
So all in all, Yokobachi impressed us hugely. A very atmospheric little restaurant that will be lovely to dine at during summer months due to the picturesque garden area. The waiters were quite friendly and the food, as you can tell, was plentiful! Not a place to eat at every week but certainly on the to-do list when we have guests to visit or special events to celebrate. Worth the wait and now I'm looking forward to our next excuse for a slap-up meal!
Recommended by our friend Phillip and cemented in our minds as a definite night-out choice as we walked past the restaurant every day (only 2 minutes from our house – restaurant address: 860-0845 Kumamoto-ken, Kumamoto-shi, 中央区上通町11−40 ), Yokobachi had been on the hit-list for several weeks before we got the chance to visit – giving us plenty of time to work up an appetite and also save up some pennies for our splash-out meal. More expensive than our usual haunts but worth it for a special occasion, we opted for the middle range set menu – 3,500 Yen per person for a 10 course meal (roughly £21 each.) We'd anticipated trouble in placing our order as the menu at the door was in Japanese only, but luckily for us, once inside we discovered that they had recently created an English menu, so we could order without qualms.
Our 10 course meal started with a salad. Yokobachi uses seasonal ingredients so what arrived wasn't exactly what was included on the set menu, but actually, I preferred what we got to what was supposed to come! The salad was a medley of crisp green leaves with mushy avocado, hiding fat prawns and chunks of chicken under a sprinkle of flaked almonds. With a juicy slice of lemon to dress, it made a perfect palate cleanser to start the meal. Being not much of a salad-person, I was thoroughly impressed.
Next up, sashimi. Sashimi, sashimi, sashimi. Oh my word. Five types of fish served in thick, generous slabs, presented on a rustic platter of woven twigs – I felt very decadent indeed. The mark of any good restaurant in Japan is the size of their sashimi slices, and Yokobachi did not disappoint. Crowning glory, as always, was the salmon – marbled with layers of fat that leaves a creamy taste on your tongue – we always save the salmon to last.
To follow – the next course was the whole reason we chose Yokobachi. A plate of basashi (馬刺し) – horse meat sashimi. Kumamoto is famous for its horse meat, and having it raw is naturally the way we chose to try it. The dish came with two types of basashi – one type a dark red colour and the other a light pink which was rippled with seams of fat. Served with lemon, raw red onion, garlic, ginger and spring onion, the flavours complemented each other completely. Basashi was very nice indeed, if a little chewy – but not something I'll be eating frequently. Naturally it is quite expensive, and for the price, not entirely worth it. I was more than happy to try it and would recommend other visitors to do the same, but as a general rule I think I'd rather spend the money on a nice piece of beef or some salmon sashimi.
Forth course was described as 'Fried Red Snapper'. I'm not entirely sure what we got, but it was delicious – a sort of squishy fishcake in a light batter, fried to perfection and crisping just the right amount. After that, skewered beef – mocha brown at the edges and rosy pink in the middle. A sort of barbecued, smoky taste – exquisitely mouth-watering. A strong, punchy flavour which greatly contrasts the subtle deliciousness of salmon sashimi. What a varied meal!
Next up, another highlight – Japanese hot pot. There are many types of Japanese hot pot, and the one we had was a shabu-shabu type (which translates as swish-swish, an onomatopoeic word relating to the sound of meat being swished back and forth in the broth as it cooks.) The meat was horse meat – a generous amount of generous slices, served with onion, greens, tofu and kelp. I preferred eating horse meat in this style to the raw pieces – it soaked up the broth well and the hot pot was so plentiful it could have been a meal in itself!
From there, a switch back to seafood – raw oysters, nestled on plinths of salt, served with lemon. For our last savoury dish – a bowl of plain rice which was mixed in the leftover shabu-shabu broth and raw egg swirled into it as it finished warming through. For our final dish, a pudding consisting of a dark, chewy jelly (coffee flavoured perhaps? It was hard to tell), creamy almond pudding that was like sweet white custard, and a handful of goji berries on top. A nice, light dessert to follow a massive meal. We certainly got our money's worth!
So all in all, Yokobachi impressed us hugely. A very atmospheric little restaurant that will be lovely to dine at during summer months due to the picturesque garden area. The waiters were quite friendly and the food, as you can tell, was plentiful! Not a place to eat at every week but certainly on the to-do list when we have guests to visit or special events to celebrate. Worth the wait and now I'm looking forward to our next excuse for a slap-up meal!
Tuesday 3 March 2015
Suizenji Koen (Suizenji Park)
こんにちわ (Kon’nichiwa – good afternoon) from me, the studious hiragana learner. There are four written forms to the Japanese language if you include Romaji (the form based on Roman script which spells out Japanese words using letters, such as Kon’nichiwa) and right now I’m learning Hiragana, the most basic writing form. After that, it’ll be onto Katakana (developed for pronouncing foreign sounding words) and the dreaded Kanji (based on Chinese characters and super complicated.) Anyway, to celebrate that I can now recognise a bunch of the Hiragana characters… こんにちわ to you.
The past few days have been cold, wet and windy, with much of the same for the days to come. However, yesterday was our day off (Sasha’s only day off in the week) and luck dealt us a favourable hand with warm weather and sunny blue skies. Our back-up plan of having a Museum-Monday was redundant – Plan A, here we come. High up on our to-do list, Suizenji Koen (Suizenji Park) is a well-known and much-visited park, and we had high expectations.
In 1636, Lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi began construction of the garden and tea house. The location was chosen for its spring-fed pond, the water of which was known to be excellent for making tea. The land was named after a temple which no longer exists, but the park now homes the Izumi Shrine, where members of the Hosokawa family are enshrined. Within the garden is a representation of Mt. Fuji – a pointed hill that is meant to look like the famous mountain. It’s also said that the garden represents the fifty-three sensations of the Tokaido Road. Seasonal plays are performed on the theatre stage, which was built at the same time as the family shrine.
At the entrance we bought some ikinari dango – a traditional Kumamoto sweet made from sweet potato and red bean paste, covered in a layer of salty mochi skin. I’ve been told that the name means ‘Suddenly… mochi’ as well as ‘easy-make dumplings’. Basically, the idea is that these steamed buns are quick and easy to prepare. They didn’t sound like my kind of thing, but I actually quite liked it – the saltiness of the dough against the sweetness of the potato. Yeah, pretty yummy.
The pond was the crowning glory of the park, with a plethora of birds above the water and leisurely-drifting carp. A rock shaped like a turtle glistened in the clear waters, shaded by mesmerizing trees with leaves growing like bubbles at the ends of branches, looking like something straight out of Avatar. The cherry blossom season is getting under way, and the trees were thick with it. A light breeze shook the glossy petals from the trees, which drifted like confetti into the tranquil waters. At the far end of the garden, a caretaker stood knee-deep in the water, sweeping the bottom of the pond with a besom (the reason for which, we presumed, was to stir up any gunk at the bottom of the pond and to make it easier for the portly coy-carp to nibble up nutrients.) A tunnel of blood-red tori’s led to a place of worship, where a toddler fresh on her feet was delighting in running up and down the aisle of dappled light.
A very picturesque scene indeed – but honestly, we were a little disappointed. The park was tiny – we were expecting to spend the whole afternoon there but you could have walked around the entire thing in less than 15 minutes. It was beautiful, but like I said – a little disappointing. However, at 400 yen entrance it wasn’t a waste of money. Nor was it a waste of time – with the lovely weather, we sat by the pond and had some reading time, with me very much enchanted at the idyllic setting to start reading my latest Kindle download (Etta and Otto and Russell and James – Emma Hooper).
In the evening we went back to a favourite sushi restaurant of ours for a delicious meal – 4 pieces of sushi each (2x scallops, salmon, horse mackerel), a sashimi don (a bowl of rice with various sashimi on top), fried shrimps, whole fried smelt fish, baby clam soup for me and fish soup for Sasha. At 2,000 Yen each (£12) it was another bargain meal. A great way to end a great weekend! Sayonara さようなら
The past few days have been cold, wet and windy, with much of the same for the days to come. However, yesterday was our day off (Sasha’s only day off in the week) and luck dealt us a favourable hand with warm weather and sunny blue skies. Our back-up plan of having a Museum-Monday was redundant – Plan A, here we come. High up on our to-do list, Suizenji Koen (Suizenji Park) is a well-known and much-visited park, and we had high expectations.
In 1636, Lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi began construction of the garden and tea house. The location was chosen for its spring-fed pond, the water of which was known to be excellent for making tea. The land was named after a temple which no longer exists, but the park now homes the Izumi Shrine, where members of the Hosokawa family are enshrined. Within the garden is a representation of Mt. Fuji – a pointed hill that is meant to look like the famous mountain. It’s also said that the garden represents the fifty-three sensations of the Tokaido Road. Seasonal plays are performed on the theatre stage, which was built at the same time as the family shrine.
At the entrance we bought some ikinari dango – a traditional Kumamoto sweet made from sweet potato and red bean paste, covered in a layer of salty mochi skin. I’ve been told that the name means ‘Suddenly… mochi’ as well as ‘easy-make dumplings’. Basically, the idea is that these steamed buns are quick and easy to prepare. They didn’t sound like my kind of thing, but I actually quite liked it – the saltiness of the dough against the sweetness of the potato. Yeah, pretty yummy.
The pond was the crowning glory of the park, with a plethora of birds above the water and leisurely-drifting carp. A rock shaped like a turtle glistened in the clear waters, shaded by mesmerizing trees with leaves growing like bubbles at the ends of branches, looking like something straight out of Avatar. The cherry blossom season is getting under way, and the trees were thick with it. A light breeze shook the glossy petals from the trees, which drifted like confetti into the tranquil waters. At the far end of the garden, a caretaker stood knee-deep in the water, sweeping the bottom of the pond with a besom (the reason for which, we presumed, was to stir up any gunk at the bottom of the pond and to make it easier for the portly coy-carp to nibble up nutrients.) A tunnel of blood-red tori’s led to a place of worship, where a toddler fresh on her feet was delighting in running up and down the aisle of dappled light.
A very picturesque scene indeed – but honestly, we were a little disappointed. The park was tiny – we were expecting to spend the whole afternoon there but you could have walked around the entire thing in less than 15 minutes. It was beautiful, but like I said – a little disappointing. However, at 400 yen entrance it wasn’t a waste of money. Nor was it a waste of time – with the lovely weather, we sat by the pond and had some reading time, with me very much enchanted at the idyllic setting to start reading my latest Kindle download (Etta and Otto and Russell and James – Emma Hooper).
In the evening we went back to a favourite sushi restaurant of ours for a delicious meal – 4 pieces of sushi each (2x scallops, salmon, horse mackerel), a sashimi don (a bowl of rice with various sashimi on top), fried shrimps, whole fried smelt fish, baby clam soup for me and fish soup for Sasha. At 2,000 Yen each (£12) it was another bargain meal. A great way to end a great weekend! Sayonara さようなら
Monday 23 February 2015
Mia Pizza - Kumamoto
If there is one thing that Kumamoto isn’t short of, it’s great places to eat. Tonight, we checked out a local pizza place that is located dangerously close to our home. Mia Pizza is based in a road-side trailer near Route 3 of Kumamoto (address: 6-11 Minamitsuboimachi, Chuo Ward, Kumamoto.) From the road it doesn’t look like much, but as you approach, you can see the seating area behind that beckons you into its cosy folds. Made from plastic walled gazebos, the seating area is decked in outdoor benches, thick blankets and a kerosene heater that makes the 10-seater grotto a comfortable diner.
Trained in Italy, the owner produces pizzas of a professional, authentic standard – just like a real Italian pizzeria; expect perhaps that these delectable concoctions are smothered in twice as much cheese as you get in Italy. There are nine set options to choose from, as well as lunchtime sandwich options and side orders. Sasha picked the number one recommended flavour – Porcini. The topping was so buttery it was like a Cream of Mushroom tinned soup had been poured on top of it. The mushrooms were more than mere slices – thick, meaty wedges adorned the pizza, nestled in a bed of delicately puckering cheese.
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For me, the second favourite of recommended dishes – Shrimp and Tomato-Basil. Delicious. Sizable prawns surrounded by a generous helping of cherry tomatoes (which I’ve been missing from my frequent diet as quality tomatoes are fairly pricey here.) Lashings of basil leaves swimming in the oily cheese, which lay more than 5mm thick on the pizza. Of the dough, I can say nothing but praise – the base was as thin as a proper Italian pizza should be, but ballooning and spongy round the outside, with the underside of the pizza made even more yummy with the slight charring from the oven (or am I the only one who likes my pizza a little bit burnt underneath? Love it.)
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What a treat! We’ve been looking forward to our pizza outing for weeks now. Price wise, we both had the medium size (1,400 Yen per pizza) and in my opinion the size was more than sufficient. A smaller size is available for 800 Yen and a large size (feeding 2-3 people – or one very hungry Celia) for 2,000 Yen. Other flavours available – Bismarck, Margarita, Shrimp and Avocado, 4 Cheeses, Piccante, Pepperoni, and finally, Yuzu and Chicken (which is the next on my hit-list.) Can’t wait for our next visit to Mia Pizza! If you want to visit their Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/mia.pizza.jp
Trained in Italy, the owner produces pizzas of a professional, authentic standard – just like a real Italian pizzeria; expect perhaps that these delectable concoctions are smothered in twice as much cheese as you get in Italy. There are nine set options to choose from, as well as lunchtime sandwich options and side orders. Sasha picked the number one recommended flavour – Porcini. The topping was so buttery it was like a Cream of Mushroom tinned soup had been poured on top of it. The mushrooms were more than mere slices – thick, meaty wedges adorned the pizza, nestled in a bed of delicately puckering cheese.
.JPG)
For me, the second favourite of recommended dishes – Shrimp and Tomato-Basil. Delicious. Sizable prawns surrounded by a generous helping of cherry tomatoes (which I’ve been missing from my frequent diet as quality tomatoes are fairly pricey here.) Lashings of basil leaves swimming in the oily cheese, which lay more than 5mm thick on the pizza. Of the dough, I can say nothing but praise – the base was as thin as a proper Italian pizza should be, but ballooning and spongy round the outside, with the underside of the pizza made even more yummy with the slight charring from the oven (or am I the only one who likes my pizza a little bit burnt underneath? Love it.)
.JPG)
.JPG)
What a treat! We’ve been looking forward to our pizza outing for weeks now. Price wise, we both had the medium size (1,400 Yen per pizza) and in my opinion the size was more than sufficient. A smaller size is available for 800 Yen and a large size (feeding 2-3 people – or one very hungry Celia) for 2,000 Yen. Other flavours available – Bismarck, Margarita, Shrimp and Avocado, 4 Cheeses, Piccante, Pepperoni, and finally, Yuzu and Chicken (which is the next on my hit-list.) Can’t wait for our next visit to Mia Pizza! If you want to visit their Facebook page… https://www.facebook.com/mia.pizza.jp
Wednesday 18 February 2015
Kumamoto Castle
Konbanwa (good evening) from me in Kumamoto, where I’ve had a busy day off work filled with cleaning, cooking, visiting the market, etc. It’s gone 8 in the evening, and I’ve finally sat down to start the main task of the day – blogging. A woman’s work is never done, so they say.
On our last day off, we visited the Kumamoto Castle. This landmark is what Kumamoto is best known for, and it’s a popular tourist spot for both Japanese and foreign visitors. Anyone who visits Kumamoto heads straight for the castle – it’s a large attraction and we can even see it from our kitchen window. With our ‘Welcome to Kumamoto’ pack when we registered as residents here, there was a booklet of local sites with free or discounted rates, so we didn’t need to pay the 500 Yen entrance fee (less than £3 so a bargain at any rate.)
In 1467 the Ideta clan established fortifications in the area, and by 1588 what stood on the grounds was the earliest incarnation of Kumamoto Castle. In the early 1600’s the castle was greatly expanded, and was transformed to include 49 turrets, 18 turret gates and 29 smaller gates. Six different clans have controlled the castle since 1467. The castle is well known for its signature curved stone walls, known as musha-gaeshi, as well as wooden overhangs, which were designed to prevent attackers from penetrating the castle. The rocks are dark in colour which adds to the overall environment of the place - Kumamoto castle is big, black and imposing.
During the Seinan Rebellion of 1877, the main tower and main part of the castle were destroyed in a fire, the cause of which remains unknown. The main tower was rebuilt in 1960, and in 1998 there were extensive restoration works done on the castle, reinforcing the keep with concrete. The Iidamaru Five-Storied Tower was rebuilt in 2005, and in 2008 the Honmaru Goten Palace O-Hiroma Main Hall was rebuilt too.
We entered through the Akazuno Gate, which faces north-east. It’s believed in Japan that evil spirts come from the north-east, and so traditionally this door was kept shut to stop the evil spirits getting in (but we got in anyway, haha!) First impression inside the castle grounds was of the wide pathways and edges of green space everywhere. It’s certainly not a cramped abode! The entrance was up a small hill, and on a grassy patch there were some trees overlooking the city below. Many of the trees were thick with moss and grass which was growing out of the branches, and the grass on the ground was paved with moss too, giving a very ethereal and magical feel to the place.
There are 13 of the original buildings in the castle grounds that survived the fire, and the first we saw was the Hira Turret of the castle. In the turrets is where they would store weapons and military supplies, and they were used as stations for soldiers during time of unrest. We walked through the cherry blossom garden where the blossoms are just coming into flower. It’s still a few weeks until the traditional time for cherry blossoms, but the few that were scattered around the castle added some colour to the stony fort.
The original castle had six turrets that were five stories tall, and the replica of the Iidamaru turret was an interesting part of our visit. We had to remove our shoes inside the structure, and everywhere there were signs not to touch the walls. It looked like they had been made using traditional methods – the wooden beams were hand carved, and the walls looked ready to crumble at your touch. The turret windows opened out over the castle moat, with slanted walls as each floor shrunk in size. It was beautifully constructed and a highlight of the visit.
At the foot of the castle we sat for a while and watched the people in traditional dress pose for photographs with tourists. The men were dressed as samurai and had weapons to go with their armour. Later there was a short display in front of the castle – more of a dance routine than an example of sword-play, but the Japanese visitors seemed to like it.
Inside the main keep of Kumamoto Castle it was a six story climb to the top, but with several of the floors set out like a museum to display old artefacts, documents and photographs of the castle. From the top, even though it was a foggy day, we had a good view of Kumamoto city. It’s easy to forget that Kumamoto is a city rather than a town. The area we live in is so personal and quaint, and even in the centre of the city, you can find your way around quite easily. But Kumamoto spreads for miles, housing almost a million people. From the top of the castle, you can see the mist-covered hills on the horizon, and all the hundreds and thousands of buildings in-between.
So that’s our visit to Kumamoto Castle! When I have people come to visit, this will be the first place in my city I recommend they visit, and with my ‘Welcome to Kumamoto’ pass I’ll certainly be going again! I’d like to go when all the blossoms are out to see them flood the trees with colour, and with the castle being less than a 20 minute walk from my house, I could even squeeze in a visit before work one day! That’s all from me – sayonara. Oh, and to finish off – in tribute to pancake day – a pancake in the shape of Kumamoto Castle, with some shakily drawn Hiragana underneath spelling out Kumamoto: くまもと
On our last day off, we visited the Kumamoto Castle. This landmark is what Kumamoto is best known for, and it’s a popular tourist spot for both Japanese and foreign visitors. Anyone who visits Kumamoto heads straight for the castle – it’s a large attraction and we can even see it from our kitchen window. With our ‘Welcome to Kumamoto’ pack when we registered as residents here, there was a booklet of local sites with free or discounted rates, so we didn’t need to pay the 500 Yen entrance fee (less than £3 so a bargain at any rate.)
In 1467 the Ideta clan established fortifications in the area, and by 1588 what stood on the grounds was the earliest incarnation of Kumamoto Castle. In the early 1600’s the castle was greatly expanded, and was transformed to include 49 turrets, 18 turret gates and 29 smaller gates. Six different clans have controlled the castle since 1467. The castle is well known for its signature curved stone walls, known as musha-gaeshi, as well as wooden overhangs, which were designed to prevent attackers from penetrating the castle. The rocks are dark in colour which adds to the overall environment of the place - Kumamoto castle is big, black and imposing.
During the Seinan Rebellion of 1877, the main tower and main part of the castle were destroyed in a fire, the cause of which remains unknown. The main tower was rebuilt in 1960, and in 1998 there were extensive restoration works done on the castle, reinforcing the keep with concrete. The Iidamaru Five-Storied Tower was rebuilt in 2005, and in 2008 the Honmaru Goten Palace O-Hiroma Main Hall was rebuilt too.
We entered through the Akazuno Gate, which faces north-east. It’s believed in Japan that evil spirts come from the north-east, and so traditionally this door was kept shut to stop the evil spirits getting in (but we got in anyway, haha!) First impression inside the castle grounds was of the wide pathways and edges of green space everywhere. It’s certainly not a cramped abode! The entrance was up a small hill, and on a grassy patch there were some trees overlooking the city below. Many of the trees were thick with moss and grass which was growing out of the branches, and the grass on the ground was paved with moss too, giving a very ethereal and magical feel to the place.
There are 13 of the original buildings in the castle grounds that survived the fire, and the first we saw was the Hira Turret of the castle. In the turrets is where they would store weapons and military supplies, and they were used as stations for soldiers during time of unrest. We walked through the cherry blossom garden where the blossoms are just coming into flower. It’s still a few weeks until the traditional time for cherry blossoms, but the few that were scattered around the castle added some colour to the stony fort.
The original castle had six turrets that were five stories tall, and the replica of the Iidamaru turret was an interesting part of our visit. We had to remove our shoes inside the structure, and everywhere there were signs not to touch the walls. It looked like they had been made using traditional methods – the wooden beams were hand carved, and the walls looked ready to crumble at your touch. The turret windows opened out over the castle moat, with slanted walls as each floor shrunk in size. It was beautifully constructed and a highlight of the visit.
At the foot of the castle we sat for a while and watched the people in traditional dress pose for photographs with tourists. The men were dressed as samurai and had weapons to go with their armour. Later there was a short display in front of the castle – more of a dance routine than an example of sword-play, but the Japanese visitors seemed to like it.
Inside the main keep of Kumamoto Castle it was a six story climb to the top, but with several of the floors set out like a museum to display old artefacts, documents and photographs of the castle. From the top, even though it was a foggy day, we had a good view of Kumamoto city. It’s easy to forget that Kumamoto is a city rather than a town. The area we live in is so personal and quaint, and even in the centre of the city, you can find your way around quite easily. But Kumamoto spreads for miles, housing almost a million people. From the top of the castle, you can see the mist-covered hills on the horizon, and all the hundreds and thousands of buildings in-between.
So that’s our visit to Kumamoto Castle! When I have people come to visit, this will be the first place in my city I recommend they visit, and with my ‘Welcome to Kumamoto’ pass I’ll certainly be going again! I’d like to go when all the blossoms are out to see them flood the trees with colour, and with the castle being less than a 20 minute walk from my house, I could even squeeze in a visit before work one day! That’s all from me – sayonara. Oh, and to finish off – in tribute to pancake day – a pancake in the shape of Kumamoto Castle, with some shakily drawn Hiragana underneath spelling out Kumamoto: くまもと
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