A little background info on the castle before going on.
It was ordered to be made by Ii Naokatsu (son of the general Ii Naomasa, the guy with the big pointy horns on his armour) and was finished in 1622 making it one of the oldest castles in Japan. The castle was slated to be torn down, as many were in the Meiji restoration, however by a personal request from the Emperor the castle was saved, and remains much the same as it has for hundreds of years.
After going out of the museum we started up the long steps towards the keep. They are truly a pain to walk up..glad I never had to assault this castle. At the top you can see the bridge leading to the next set of walls, which as you can see was rather above us meaning we had to go up yet more of the same annoying stairs. At the top was a small gift shop though. Through the gate led to another set of stairs. At the top was a small tea house and a bell. This spot is one of 100 spots in Japan where you can hear the nature all around you (so a sign said). The forest is right beside you and you can hear nothing but the sounds of insects and birds. Quite nice actually. Included is a shot of the city from this spot.
After you go through another gate and up small set of steps, your at the top! And the keep is staring you in the face. Before heading in I took a pic of the city beside the entrance. The wind here felt wonderful on such a hot day.
Inside the main entrance there are some pictures with info on the castle, but all in Japanese. Take a look at the ceiling. Its got some pretty interesting woodwork. Then its up the stairs (not nice on the knees, and a taste of what was to come) and your on the first floor.
Next up is shot of the hallway inside and of a large room. Basically the whole castle is bare, with a few signs here and there. But just being inside such a place is a treat itself really. Just looking at the pictures it may seem boring, but I think its a case of have to see it yourself.
Heres a shot from outside the window of the second floor.
Heres a shot of the type of stairs you have to go up. Its hard to convey how steep and rather creepy it is to go up them. I imagine it must have been ladders here in the older days.
Heres a shot of the roof at the top and then some views from the top of the castle.
Here is a painting showing how the area used to look.
After outside we took a few pictures in front of the castle then headed down to the back side castle grounds.
Going down the back way to behind the castle we found another wall turret. Inside we went and could climb to the top!
Down some stairs behind the wall and we had a bridge to cross. Under it is a dry moat, which a sign said had something to do with horse battles....not sure..the English was pretty bad.
After this you follow a long path down, with the woods all around you to the bottom. Very nice actually, and very quiet after all the people around the castle.
Down here was an old gate leading out to the moat, where I suppose a bridge at one point stood.
From here you could go left or right, left leading down a long road with Plum trees and right leading to the large garden area. We opted for the garden. Good choice! We headed down the road, which was devoid of people and took our time taking the nice nature stroll. Over anther bridge and we were back to civilization. Here is a shot from where we came from.
Before going to the main garden we stopped by what is a large single floor mansion. However it was being restored so most of it was covered up and you could not go inside. But here is a shot of the main door at least!
After this we headed into the main garden. It was quite stunning. The buildings you can see are a huge tea house, sadly closed by the time we got there. If you notice the roof, it is made from straw. They are quite old!
This picture is of a creepy dilapidated shrine. It would really be creepy to be here at night.
Over the large bridge and you pass the old tea house on your way out. We stopped for a picture on a small bridge as well!
On the way out of the castle grounds is a large monument to Ii Naosuke. He is of the same family as the others and was born in the mid 1800's. He was the 14th son of his father, and was no where near in line to take over to be the Daimyo (head of the castle) and so was sent off to Buddhist temple. Over the years his 13 other brothers either married into other families or died, and so after his father died he was called back to the castle to take over as the new Daimyo.
He quickly became involved with politics and and rose to power. When Mathew Perry came to Japan and demanded they open themselves up or be invaded, Ii Naosuke helped and signed many treaties to open up Japan to the west. He also helped to give power to the Shogun and purged many that stood in his way. This led to his eventual Assassination outside the Edo castle by a group of 17 samurai.
That wraps up the Hikone castle tour! I think it was the best castle I saw for sure (as of the time of writing this anyway).
After getting home we went for some Italianese Food. Naomi got a pasta with a fish egg sauce (very good actually) and I got a teriyaki pizza that had mayo, bacon, teriyaki sauce, nori(dried seaweed) and tomato sauce. For dessert we had a little mix plate which had a strawberry cake, a spounge cake and a kind of jelly dessert. All quite good, but La Piola still gets my vote.
After getting home, I managed to walk into the tree in the front yard and got a nasty stinging burn from a catapillar. Didn't see that one coming. It went away later that night though so no harm done. Her mom went out the next day and cut them all off the tree.
Next up is our trip to Nagoya and Kyoto!
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