Back in June 2007, the Nihon Jōkaku Kyōkai (Japan Castle Foundation) launched a stamp rally to promote their list of the top 100 Japanese castles. The deal being that you make your way around the various islands that make up the nation of Japan to collect the 100 stamps.

For a guy who is all about Japanese castles, I’ve been pretty slow on the uptake. What can I say, it just hasn’t made much of an impression on me. #stamp_humour

Well, I’m now here to say that I have seen the errors of my way and that I am on-board in a big way, that I have gotten with the program.

Finally, let me present to you, #1 of 100 – Matsumoto Castle.

(Matsumoto castle profile)

Well, between procrastination and not having a means to visit, I finally checked out the Tachiarai Peace Hall. You may well imagine it to be a hall-like building filled with peace, which may not be a completely accurate description. It is in fact, filled with WWII aircraft, parts of aircraft & other WWII related items.

When you are done with the video, check out:
The Pool of Zen's Poetry of the Kamikaze.
And, a site with some information on the former museum.

This is the very bus I took from Fukuoka to Kyoto. It wasn't as comfortable as it looks.

Choose your own adventure

I have got to say that I am itching to travel. It has been a while since I’ve been on a castle-exploring trip, and without much time or money I’m unsure when the next chance to travel will be. When it does eventually happen though, I will be ready for it.

The first few times I travelled around Japan compared with the last time was very different. I suppose it’s natural that the more you do something, the more efficient you get at it, but also having a family and a mortgage has made me a bit (more like a lot) more careful when going about things. Tell me if you think my itinerary from Spring 2009 is a little hectic.

I don’t travel for relaxation, visiting castles is my relaxation.

Some things to consider when planning your own travels.

Getting around
I’ve already mentioned the night bus. I don’t particularly like it but travelling when you sleep (or attempt too) maximises the time you have to look at interesting things during the day. Night ferry is another option.

Of course being Japan, trains are a very convenient way to get around. Check out this website: www.jorudan.co.jp/ Just enter the train station names (you may have to double check the spelling) and it will offer you the fast or economical options that are available to you.

Where to stay
Do not waste your time at a youth hostel. I stayed at a couple in Ehime; too many rules & too expensive. I prefer a cheap business hotel room. Another option is a Minshuku (usually slightly-grubby, old-style guest houses) but the bathing area is shared.

What to see
Some people may prefer to wing it, but for the reasons I mentioned earlier I like to have a pretty fair idea of what I’m going to see. First thing I do is look at the Japanese Castle Explorer map. If you have managed to overlook the Google-bar, I recommend you give it a go. You can even type in Nihongo to get results. There is also the panoramio & wikipedia overlays to help you discover sights to see.

Early this year I added a function that allowed people to rate the castles they’d visited. It’s not a perfect system but it has allowed for the creation of a ranked list, and it is this list which forms the basis of the top-ten Popular castles list. Anyway, since its introduction just 5 months ago over 1000 votes have been submitted. Wow. I never thought it would be as popular as it has. A big thanks to you all, I really do appreciate everyone who has taken an interest & the time to vote.

Well, they’ve now been tallied, perused & interpreted and I have to say, the votes have revealed more than a couple surprises. Anyway, run your eyes over the stats and then we’ll chat again.

Surprises aside, I actually have no gripes with how people have voted. I’m sure they did so as they saw fit, it’s not like they can gain any benefit anyway. Things will all average out in the end.

Earlier this year I introduced to you all my interest in Tsuba, the hand guards of Japanese swords (link). Well, here is another in my collection. There are only three Tsuba in my collection, it’s an expensive hobby you know!

This Tsuba
I picked this one up in Fukuoka city. This probably won’t seem so unusual to you, Japan may well be the place to pick up a Japanese antique or two. (Just keep that to yourselves though.) The majority of Tsuba that I’d bought though were back in my home town of Brisbane or on-line. Be sure to check out E-bay, but beware, there is a mountain of crappy ones.

In contrast to the majority of Tsuba made of iron, this one is copper. The overall feel is quite delicate & elegant. You’ll notice there are inlays of two different colour metals. Both are alloys, the dark one in known as Shakudō, the other is an impure gold. And by the way, the pattern is known as Sayagata (紗綾形) and it wraps around the rim in places. The central hole allowed the tang of the blade to pass through and you can see its shape has been altered multiple times.

How old is it? No idea. Who made it / What school of Tsuba maker? No idea, I know enough to know to not trust what is written on the box (Umetada). Size? Dang small.

The box rounds things off nicely. A previous owner obviously felt that the Tsuba was deserving of a made-to-order home.

A while back I got an email out of the blue from someone requesting use of one of my castle photos for a book. How cool is that? Fast-forward to the present day, this morning in fact, and waiting in my in-box was an email informing me that the book containing the requested photo had just been published. It isn’t the National Geographic, but I for one am pretty thrilled.

I should point out that what follows isn’t a critical review, the book is neither sitting in front of me, nor did pay enough attention during class in high school if it were.

What I do know is that this isn’t your average book of the samurai of the Edo-period. Yes, it is filled with all the important names, dates, places, events & background information that should be there, but it is actually targeted toward people wanting to use the Edo period as the setting of their creative masterpieces.

I might just leave it there because there’s no point to me just repeating everything that’s in the press release or on the publisher’s home page. But, I suggest you click on those links if you’d like to get a better idea of what the book has to offer & to see some selected pages.

What is well worth mentioning is the fact that Tadashi Ehara, the book’s author, has made the offer of a 33% discount exclusively to JCE blog readers (that’s you guys!) Just get in contact by commenting below, by email (kyushudan [at] yahoo.com.au) or direct message on Twitter for those who are interested. Thank you Tadashi.

For the sake of transparency, I’d just like to say that I won’t be receiving any commission or reward if you decide to buy this book. One more thing. The photo I provided it that of Hirado castle.

Original
… is a term often seen in books and on websites (including this one) to describe just twelve of the thousands of Japanese castles that have ever been built. Which twelve you may ask? Well, here is a list & here is a map. (Why not click on the links to re-familiarise yourself anyway?)

So, I guess original means: way back when, someone found a good place to build a castle, built it, and since then, it has sat there for hundreds of years until this very day?
- No, it doesn’t.

It means the first one?
- No, it doesn’t.

It means unaltered?
- No, it doesn’t.

It means not remixed?
- …

Original simply means the main tower, A.K.A. the keep, A.K.A. the Tenshu was built before the close of the Edo period, i.e. before 1868. The list of twelve even includes rebuilt & relocated Tenshus.
- No, it doesn’t.
- Yes, it does.

So, there you have it. I hope that some of you are even a little surprised. I also hope that you’ll comment/ask questions to confirm that the words you have just read are true, or at least as true as my source materials allow. My question for you is though, did anyone pick up on the Spinal Tap reference with the title?

Interior of Kumamoto Castle's rebuilt palace

There’s a lot of rebuilding (castle-related of course) going on around Japan these days. And unlike in the 50′s & 60′s, where designers pretty much did as they pleased, all work must be completely authentic & accurate.

Things are so strict some government bodies are offering rewards for evidence that can provide precise details of the original buildings. Many restoration projects have in fact stalled due to lack of reference materials.

Perhaps many castles would benefit from the (slight) easing of such regulations but that isn’t the cost I’ll be refering to from here on in. I got a question about the actual cost of reconstructions, and so after a bit of research (googling), came up with the following figures.

Today we are going to take a walk to the Shōhin-ken(松浜軒). This is an old two-story tea house which was built in 1688 (way before Starbucks came to Japan) by Matsui Naoyuki for his ‘kaasan. To get there, head off from the north-western corner of the castle. It’s just a couple of blocks to the west.

There are quite a few old buildings at the entrance. In the picture below on one of the corner roof tiles there’s a circle with 8 smaller circle surrounding it, that is the family crest of the Hosokawa clan.

The crossbeam-less, Heijū style gate. Pass through here then another gate, pay the three-hundred-yen fee and you’re in!

Below is a photo of the main building & garden. The garden is at its best when the irises are in bloom.

Really old glass. Maybe it’s too hard to make out, but the irregularities in the glass made the reflections ripple as you walk past.

This is actually a downpipe, the water runs off the roof, collected by the guttering & down this.

A mossy stone pagoda. You can just see the blooming cherry blossoms in the background.

There you have it guys, yet another reason to get yourself to Kumamoto. What did you guys think? I’d love for you to post your comments below!!

Tsuba
I’m no expert when it comes to tsuba. What I can tell you with some level of confidence is that a tsuba is a hand guard on Japanese swords. Unfortunately, the word also means saliva but more on that later.

The only thing I know for sure about this tsuba, is that I like it. I bought it about 10 years ago, on-line of all places. I’ve since shown some people here in Japan & it seems it is of a low-ish standard but that I needn’t hang my head in shame.

Description
It’s very small (58mm x 49mm / 2.28in x 1.92in) & heavy and you can see it has a four-lobed, rounded rim. Within the rim are gold (low purity) & silver inlays. The two copper blobs indicate it has been fitted & refitted to several blades during its lifetime.

A visit to an antique store
What better place to find tsuba than in an antique store in Japan. There’s always a few on display, and you can count on all the good stuff being out of sight. Out-of-sight – awesome but also out-of-sight – you need to know the secret handshake. One thing I’ve noticed, is that if you show signs of interest in anything on display at one of the more up-market stores, the staff will either be suppressing a snigger or will openly mock you. And this is before you even get the chance to ask the all-important question:

Sumimasen, TSUBA ga arimasuka? – Excuse me, is there any saliva?