What is a Japanese castle like?



Picture 1   Donjon of Osaka Castle

WE have many castles or Shiro around the country.  They were originally built in the 16th to 18th centuries by feudal lords. But most of existing castles are replicas which were  built in the 20th century.  A good example is Osaka-jo Castle in Osaka,  which has an enormous donjon(see Picture 1), and are very popular among people.  Japanese castles commonly consist of moats, stone walls, watch towers, a donjon and several buildings such as Honmaru and Ninomaru.

YOU'LL also find similar castles in local cities.  They are generally not so big as that in Osaka, but they have unique ideas in the designs made by local lords.
Here we have a report on a local castle called Ueda-jo by Ms. J. O., who visited the city of Nagano, located about 200 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.

Picture 2  Yagura-mon of Sanada-jo Castle

The castle was built in 1583, during the Age of Civil Wars, by Sanada  Masayuki, a local lord who was respected with his distinctive strategies.

According to old documents, the lord  Sanada didn’t build  a  donjon. The reason would be that he regarded it as something impractical for wars, nothing but a decorative building in good appearance. Instead, he enforced the defensive power of gates and watch towers. This picture  shows the front view of  Yagura-mon, a gate which is unique in having two Yagura or watch towers at a gate. You see a two-storied bulding on the right which is connected with another two-storied one on the left through a corridor on a stone wall.  The gate was restored in 1994. You can enter both Yagura to see how warriors inside defended the gate against enemies.
(Admission fee is 250 yen, including  the municipal museum on the castle site.)

Picture 3  "Sanda ishi" stone

Walking around the castle, you'll find a huge stone among many stones that make up stone walls. This is named "Sanada  ishi" stone. 
It's 2.5 meters wide and 3 meters high.
The size of stone is supposed to correspond to the power of war lord, and Sanada stone would be a symbol of the clan's strength.
The small local castle became famous as an invincible fort.  It completely succeeded in rejecting overwhelming attacks repeated twice by Tokugawa clan, the largest power at the time that built a huge castle at Edo (present Tokyo).

Unfrotunately, Honmaru, or the main building where the Sanda lord lived, didn’t remain. we can, however, walk around a wide open area where Honmaru used to be, seeing three existing Yagura-mon gates stand at the corners in the south, north and west.

A funny story I've heard is that Sanada shrine there provides Omamori or a charm, and it's popular for students to buy the charm wishing success in exams.
This charm is connected with the historical fact that the castle never fell (or lost).
It might give you an invincible power.

<More information>
Tourists who are interested in Japanese castles would be recommended to visit the cities of Himeji and Kyoto as well as Osaka. Himeji castle is famous for its magnificent architecture covered with white plaster, and Nijo-jo castle in Kyoto is characterized by its gorgeous pictures inside buildings.   
 

Omotesando --- An intersection of Japan's contemporary and traditional cultures

Omotesando, which refers to the main approach to Meiji-Jingu shrine, would be an intersection of  Japan's religious tradition and comtemporary culture.

Walking on the street might remind you of Champs-Elysees St. in Paris or Unter den Linden St. in Verlin, but we are sure that you'll find yourself in the Japanesque atmosphere when walking through the approach.


Starting with Ishidoro or a big stone lantern (but not used as the light today), the approach has hundreds of Zelkova trees on the both sides, leading us to our cultures now and then.
















First you'll see the world first-class brand-name shops such as Gucci, Givancy, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior, and Chanel stand side by side along the street with distinctive architectures, which would indicate  elegance of the street.  

Omotesando might surpass Ginza,  which has been the most famous in Japan, in  gorgeousness.













New businesses such as Apple and Nike join the exhibition with their simple and modern displays.

Apple's shop adopts a glass-made front wall at full size.




Needless to say, you'll find a cafe terrace to spend a pleasant time with your partner,  looking over the street.







Going down the concave street, you'll see full of people on the sidewalks  enjoy wandering with friends or family.







Nine out of ten, you'll come across a line of young women and men who are waiting for something.

The line starts at a popcorn shop, KuKuRuZa, which originated in Seatle in US and now gets more popular here in Tokyo.
(The board says "the tail of  line.")
 










Here is Omotesando Hills, a modern building uniquely designed insides, where  corridors are inclined as pallarel to the downhill street outside. About 100 fashionable shops are open.

The 12-storied architecture has six floors on the ground due to the height restriction, which means 6-storied under the ground.

On the opposite side,
KIDDY LAND, a shop of small toys and goods with cute characters such as Sanrio's Kitty and Desney's, stands with bright sign,  swallowing young girls and boys.






Oriental Bazaar, a souvenior shop providing with Kimono, pottery, and Ukiyoe at reasonable prices, shows up in a traditional architecture with red pillars and green roofs.







Heiroku Sushi,  an inexpensive sushi bar where plates of sushi rest on a circular conveyer belt, serves a wide variety of sushi including California roll, avocado roll and so on.





Colorful commerical displays appear when you cross an intersection where the road  changes from downhill to uphill.

The advertisements might overwhelm you in size and height.


 
H&M, a Swedish apparel company, soars before you, too.













On the right, at the halfway point of the uphill,  you'll find a musium of Ukiyoe, called Ukiyo-e Ota Memorial Museum  of Art, which possesses a large collection of valuable woodblock prints (about 14,000).

Ukiyoe enthusiasts will find numerous masterpieces during the Edo Period (the 17th -19th centuries) .



Going up for a while, if you don't miss a small shop sign, Matsubara-an Keyaki, you'll have a chance to know one of Japan's noodle cultures, Soba noodle.

The buckwheet noodle is commonly  taken for lunch, served with various toppings such as tempura or deep flied dish of fresh vegetables and fish.

The entrance of restaurant is on the 4th floor of a modern building, where you'll see Noren or a traditional short curtain with the shop name on it, hanging from the eaves.

At last, a few minutes walk takes you to the top of Omotesando, where the Zelkova street faces a deep forest.


Crossing the pedestrian walk,
you see a huge Torii gateway on your right.

Unlike the triumphal arches in Paris and Verlin, the wooden gateway is simple and natural, harmonized with nature.

It has a role of clearly distinguishing the sacred area of shrine from the worldly area you've come from.



Walking on a path paved with gravel,  you are coming closer to Meiji-Jingu Shrine, which enshrines Emperor Meiji and Empress Syoken.

The emperor ruled in 1868 -1912, and achieved Meiji Restoration which drastically modernized the country from its fuedal system. 


The Shinto architecture represents what we have kept embrasing for centuries as a token of worship and appreciation to ancestors and nature.

Zen practice in Tokyo.

What is Zen?     How is Za-Zen practiced?I think many tourists have learned of the words.
Zen signifies a kind of Buddhist thinking, and Za-Zen is a means of realizing the thoughts.  The two terms may be confused, but that doesn't matter much.
What you imagine from them might be a Japanese mysticism as a method of mental training similar to Yoga in India.

Being much simpler than Yoga, Za-Zen is common among us in having an oppotunity to see inside of ourselves. It really gives us a sort of self-salvation, and is never hypnotic suggestion or a tricky magic.
Many parents have their boys and girls practice it for several days during their summer holidays, and  some athletes often take the method to keep mental stability when in bad shape.

Zen sect of Buddhism, originated in China in the 6th century, has developed in Japan since the 13th century, when Samurai or warrior class took the rule of the country.  Za-Zen has been the most  important means for monks of the sect to attain enlightenment, the ultimate goal of Buddhism.
Nowadays many Zen temples are open to people who want to try the unique way of meditation, where you silently sit on the flour in a distinctive style. All you prepare for the lesson is only easy cloths for you, but geans are no-no.



In the course for beginners,
a senior monk instructs some manners of the practice, walks slowly around the trainees during the meditation lasting about 40 munites,
and taps them on the shoulder with the ritual slender plate when they sway their backs and/or heads without keeping minds relaxed and still.

I spent such a calm and tranquil hour at a temple when I was young.
I clearly remember that I was much impressed with peaceful mind after the deep meditation. That wasn't described in words, a completely different state  of mind from daily life.

To those interested in the oriental way of thinking,
I recommend to read the following books, which was written in English in 1930s  by D. T. Suzuki, who was a professor of Kyoto university and had made lectures on Zen in London, NewYork and other cities abroad.

According to him, Zen is not a philosophy of metaphysics, and nor is a religion as it is understood by a common meaning.  It is an intuitive mind related to human existence, which defies intellectual understandings.
Does it make sense?


In addition, he pointed out greater influence of Zen on Japanese culture than other sects of Buddhism, and found common ideas between Zen and our sense of esthetics in Bushido, or the ethical code of Samurai warriors, the tea ceremony, poetry, and other arts.

A night view of the Thunder gate, or Kaminarimon, at Asakusa

You would know Thunder Gate, Kaminari-mon, at Asakusa in Tokyo.
That must be a famous sightseeing spot in Tokyo, where you really feel you've come to Tokyo in Japan.
" It's so oriental and exotic. The street is very narrow and heavily crowded like a market, and the gate in red and green has a big red lantern with black characters."

One more thing I propse is to visit there at night.
You will be deeply impressed with high-lighted architectures and statues in the dark, which are more exotic than in the daytime.

You will notice two muscular and sturdy statues, Wind Deity (right) and Thunder Deity (left), who watch people coming through the entrance gate of Senso-ji temple. They are guardian deities who originated in an Indian religion and have come to guard Buddha.
Please take a close look at their faces.  The eyes, made of crystal, are bright as if they were alive and actually glared at you.

The main building in the precinct is closed, but you would find things which you don't know at daytime;

- Each of doors has a pattern of black circles surrounded with golden color;
- Pillars and beams are vermeil against white walls;
- Eaves consist of a number of small beams with white edge.
Those combination of colors and lines might give us a sense of dignity.

Turning left, you would be impressed with a five storied pagoda lighted up there, the beauty of Japan's wooden architectures, which people will not notice in the daylight.

On top of that, you will come across Japaneseque cute figures such as girls in bobbed hair, cats raising a paw, faces of Dharma Zen priest, and raccoon dogs with a Sake bottle when walking into alleys of the appoach, Nakamise street.
All of them wish to be taken abroad.





Lastly, please let me introduce you a police stall, called KOBAN, where one or two officers always stay there 24 hours 7 days. The stalls stand on busy streets in urban area or near train stations. The police system makes an important role in keeping security in our society.
You'll see at least two KOBAN in the thunder gate area. That's why we can enjoy the night views even late evening.
Moreover, police officers, usually male and sometimes female, are kind enough to let you know the way to any place you want to go.

We have ... as you have Central Park in New York and Hyde Park in London

Tokyo would be like a desert of concrete, some tourists might think.But you will be surprized to see the following pictures, a view at the central area of Tokyo, taken at a park called "the Imperial Palace East Gardens".


Please come to Tokyo Station.
Going out from the central exit of Marunouchi side and taking a straight walk for  just  ten minutes, you'll find yourselves in the ground of Imperial Palace, where evergreen pine trees, long and wide moats, and high stone walls welcome you.
<Tokyo Station>

This is a view from the ground of Imperila Palace. In the center, you see a red three-storied building
with a black roof, which is the station.






< Pine trees in the front
    garden of Imperial Palace >

Six thousand pine trees , as the symbol of longevity and eternity, are planted here. They are always pruned elegantly.




<Moats and Stone Walls>

Moats and stone walls were made to guard a castle from enimies' attack. There used to be two lines of moats in the circumference of the castle, and the moat in the picture is the inner one.




Here had been a huge castle of Tokugawa Shogunate government for 250 years, from the 17th through the mid 19th centuries. So you see several watch towers in the feudal age on the stone walls along the moats.

Main entrance of the park is also a traditional type of gate, where many samurai warriors used to enter into the Edo (the old name of Tokyo) castle.

Just inside of the gate, you'll stand in front of another gate which has a high and solid structure to attack invaders.

Please imagine how many checkpoints you have to go through to reach the oasis in heavily crowded Tokyo.
<To be continued>

Gardens in three famous temples in Kyoto --- What cuauses their sharp contrast ?

MOST tourists who visit Kyoto would come and see "Kinkaku-ji" temple, which is famous for the golden pavilion standing beside a pond with evergreen pine trees.


Picture 1  The golden pavilion at Kingakuji temple in Kyoto

The garden is a represetational one that describes the Buddhist pureland or heaven that is believed to exist in the land far west from Japan. The brightness of the golden pavilion atracted people, showing as if the pureland were like this.

MANY of them,  having about 10-minute drive from the golden temple, would find another well-known temple called "Ryoan-ji" temple, which is characterized by a " rock garden " consisting of several rocks, white gravel, and a bit of moss, but not including any water, trees, and architecture inside.

Picture 2   Rock garden at Ryoanji temple in Kyoto

Some must wonder what caused the sharp contrast between the gardens although they are both Buddhist temples.  The origin of Ginkaku-ji temple dates back to the late 14th century, and Ryoan-ji temple came up around 100 years after the golden pavilion was built. So we had a big change in religious and social culture at that time.

In-between the century, there was built a temple called "Ginkau-ji" temple which has a famous t-storied house called "silver pavilion" with sand garden called "Gessyo-dai" or moon viewing platform.

Picture 3  moon viewing platform at Ginkakuji temple in Kyoto

You may see the answers in a chronological consideration.

Plus, with an understanding that gardens in temples are essential for monks to make philosophical practices in Buddhism,
you would find the answers in the process how monks tried to attain enlightenment.  

For tourists --- unsatisfied with cherry blossoms in Tokyo

We recommend you to visit Nara city next April
if you feel kind of frustrated with our way of enjoying the blossoms in urban areas, where you would often come across masssive crowd, noisy parties, or shoutings of the drunken. 
NARA is located about 50 km south from Kyoto, and has also historic sites and scenic beauty spots, among which Mt. Yoshino has been famous for cherry blossoms for more than a century. Many nobilities depicted its beautiy in the Japanese style of poetry. The hillside is covered with wild cherry trees, different species from those planted in urban areas.
The scenery has long been called as "a sight which can catch one thousand cheery trees".   Trees start blooming at the lower area early April, with the beautiful petals going up to the middle, the top, and the deeper areas as it gets warmer. You will never miss the chance to appreciate and admire them.


Following is a closer shot taken by one of our associates, who knows the right time of the right place to visit. As a matter of fact, every good spot is usually crowded in its high time.
Around the city, there were seated several capitals in the 6th through the 8th centuries, when Japan's basis of politics and cultures was founded by emperors and their followers. The old city has kept maintaining its traditional heritages, less influenced by politics, economy, and cultures that followed the age. You also have chances to visit scenic and historical spots such as Wakakusa-yama hill and Todai-ji temple.

Photo of Wakakusa-yama hill (What a peaceful place with deer!)


Photo of Todai-ji temple
                         (The last three photos are taken by Ms. I.M)
★Visiting Nora might be getting to the deeper part of Japan's heart.