18.8.2018 - Day 3

I took it slow in the morning as I had time before the opening of any attractions. I packed checked-out and left my baggage on the hotel before proceeding to buy breakfast and eat it in a park next to the samurai district. The remnants of the samurai district are small, pretty much one main road and few accessible houses. Still it was nice. Especially in the morning before tourist rushed in it was peaceful and I made some great pictures. I explored samurai house, not all of it remained preserved though, with a tea ceremony room on the second floor. As I made my way back I took the opportunity to see into gardens that the residents made available and observe some old houses that had resident or were turned into shops.

I followed a local canal till I made it back to a street leading to Oyama which I took to explore further. There appears to have been some memorial service, so I took a video when the shrine maiden was using bells. As mentioned before this temple is well known for its stone gate in a western style. The gardens were also beautiful. I exited via the back exit leading to the castle. They were working there on repairing the walls. I later learned that in that part of the castle used to be a shrine. It would be nice if they would restore that as well.

I returned to the castle garden where I was yesterday for the light & music show and talked a bit with an English guide there. Apparently the garden was only restored relatively recently and like the rest of the castle that was restored, it was according to the original documentation and period photos. Climbing up the castle walls I took a tour of the armory and guardhouse. The Armory was much older and the wood has darkened, while the guardhouse wood was shining as it was build only few years back. Again traditional methods and original plans were used to build those buildings and you can find those explained inside the guardhouse.

Next I went into the adjacent Kenrokuen gardens where I tool a stroll before I had to go back to the hotel to pick-up my luggage and make my way to the Shinkansen. Next stop Nagano!

Arriving in Nagano it took me a bit to get oriented, but I finally found my next train and took it to Suzuka where my hostel was. Since I arrived at 4pm it was clear that I wouldn’t have time to visit Obuse as I originally planned. So instead I took a stroll around the town exploring local shrines and having Miso-suki-don Tofu Don for dinner.

Coming back I joined the hostel common room to mingle with other guests. The staff and returning guests were preparing for a rice field volleyball next day so I mingled with them till I went to sleep.