Saga Castle visit – Balloons!

     

Days off & blue skies do not come around often enough – FACT. How lucky that they once again joined forces to produce a sensational day last Wednesday, a public holiday. To further add sweet complexity to the mix, it was the opening day of the Saga International Balloon Festival.

First thing's first. Please check out the updated photos and information on the Saga Castle profile page. There's a video (like it or not) and you'll notice the new theme has finally been applied to the main site (again, like it or not).

A photo that didn't make it onto the Saga Castle profile page is this one. This sign is located about 40 metres to the North of the castle, and I wonder if you can't spot the hot-air balloon behind the breath-taking network of wires.


For those of you who couldn't be bothered clicking the link above to see the video, here it is. It's long-ish at 8 minutes, so perhaps grab some popcorn & a comfy seat before pressing play.

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  • Toranosukev

    Wow. These videos just keep getting better and better. It’s a shame there’s no tenshu-kaku, but by contrast, out of the few castles I’ve been to, very few if any have the lord’s residence rebuilt, with the exception of course of Nijô-jô. It is very tempting to think of the tenshu as being the castle, when in fact it is just one part of a castle grounds, and in fact not the residential part. So, to get to see the residence (after 9am) is actually pretty cool.

    Do you think those bullet-holes are genuine? If they are, that’s pretty awesome. I had forgotten about the Saga Rebellion, but now that you mention it, that was a pretty major event, and there you are at the very site where it (in part?) took place. That, for me at least, is one of the greatest aspects of visiting historical sites – the feeling of being in the very place where such-and-such once happened, as if there is some spiritual resonance or residual energy there.

    Thanks for sharing this! I look forward to your next video, and to eventually being able to visit some (more) of these sites in person myself.

  • Anonymous

    Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos. Better and better has always been the plan, not always what happens though. But hey, you need to start somewhere.

    Are the bullet-holes genuine? I’ve become quite cynical about so many things when it comes to Japan, it’s castles and history. Having said that, I do lean towards the they-are-real side of things.

    I totally agree with your comment about the spiritual resonance/residual energy. The strongest I felt (imagined) it was at Azuchi castle. I’m walking where Oda Nobunaga walked. Ahhhhh!