#the symbolism of their lives being JUST as important to this story as the kurashiki sibs

[jojea]

My brother.. might be dead…

[That’s why I k̶̻̉ī̴̬l̸̼͋l̵̨̈́e̷͎̽d̶̜̔ them.]

[asterinjapan]

A castle a day...

Well, I guess it would keep some people away, but certainly not me, haha.

That’s right, I visited another castle today! This time a little closer to Okayama, so no 3 hour train ride – just a little under half an hour. That’s just the first step in visiting this castle, though.

Follow me under the link for today’s report on Bitchu Takahashi!

Apparently there are more cities named Takahashi, so to make the distinction, the station in the Okayama prefecture is called Bitchu Takahashi for the western region of Okayama. For eh, most likely understandable reasons, I’ve also seen it written in Latin script at Bicchu. Anyway! There are several trains bound for this station, but the fastest from Okayama is the Yakumo line, which means ‘thick clouds’. Thankfully it didn’t live up to that name today, as the skies were very clear for the most part. The Yakumo only stops at Kurashiki, so it’s a quick trip. Of course, I was once again way too early at the station, so I killed some time by reserving a seat for myself. Not sure if it was necessary, but at least I could sit for sure!

Once at the station, I had my first surprise of the day. The tourist information center isn’t stuffed right next to a convenience store like at Matsuyama yesterday, but instead holds office at the city library above the station, which has four floors and also houses a book store and a Starbucks. I could actually just spend half a day here, haha, but that wasn’t why I was here. I needed a way to the castle, as that was still over an hour and half away by foot. Luckily there is a solution: a shared taxi. Of course, the normal taxi is also an option, but then you need to call one for the way back, and it’s also more expensive. You can call ahead for making reservations or just show up, which I did. Luckily, the next taxi still had place for me. They offer a discount ticket with entrance to the castle, two samurai houses and a temple, so I got one of those and then lingered around to wait for the taxi.

I got talking to several Japanese ladies and a couple from Australia, so I got to practice my languages today, haha. I could uphold conversations! Whoo! It probably helps they were castle related, and as it turns out I have very specific vocabulary now, ahem.

Anyway, I haven’t even told you why it was so necessary to take a taxi. You see, this castle is on top of a mountain at 430 meters above sea level, making it the highest original castle tower in Japan. Because yes, it is one of the only twelve castles of which the main tower is still standing from the feudal age onward. Matsuyama castle yesterday was another one, and to make matters more confusing, this castle today is also called Matsuyama castle. Yay for more double names! Like with Takahashi, it’s often called Bitchu Matsuyama castle to avoid such confusion.

With those facts in mind, you might understand why I was so excited about visiting it, despite the troubles of getting you there. The taxi got us almost all the way up, but from the parking lot, it was still a 20 minute uphill walk through forests. The weather was lovely and the trees shielded me from the sunlight, so that was actually pretty okay, haha. I don’t think walking all the way from the station to here would have worked out for me, so I’m glad for the taxi, but overall, I can’t really complain about the way here. It’s definitely not an accessible castle, though.

Upon arriving, I was immediately treated to some very impressively imposing walls. That is definitely a fortress right there! It might be the oldest surviving castle (although I’ve heard the same thing said about Inuyama castle), and the first construction was already in 1240 on a nearby mountain. That being said, the domain switched hands and the current structure is from a later era, probably the 16th century, a time when castles also became status symbols. Bitchu Matsuyama castle however was primarily constructed as a defensive fortress, very out of reach on top of the mountain and only needing 2 stories, as the height of it meant that they already had a great look-out point.

The views are indeed rather spectacular, especially in this weather with the first leaves turning bright red. But it’s understandable the castle was never really under siege and the Meiji government didn’t bother tearing it down, since without the taxi, it really is a tough one to reach.

Anyway! I made it to the main tower, which is indeed small, but looks amazing on that mountain top. I handed in my ticket and made it into the premises, to be immediately confronted with a very important character: Sanjuro, who was installed as honorary lord of the castle last December. Also, Sanjuro is a cat, haha. (Japan has multiple cats with jobs; just look up Tama, the station cat.) Last year’s summer was heavy on this region and brought floods, so the cat ran away from home and ended up here. He got adopted first as mascot, and was eventually dubbed as lord. And Sanjuro is personally responsible for the return of tourism here, as that had dropped significantly due to the floods in the region. He now lives here and makes rounds twice a day.

Afte that cute intermezzo, I went into the main tower and explored it. They did bother putting up information and displays here, although everything was in Japanese, and since it’s only two rather small floors, you can go through this pretty quickly. I was actually glad for that, because the taxi would come to pick us up only an hour and a half after dropping us off, and we still had to walk back to the parking lot.

Once outside, I walked around the castle and found a spot where I could see the turret from a better angle. The turret, along with a part of the wall and the main tower, are the only buildings left standing, so the premises aren’t big, but combined with the view and the beautiful nature, it makes for a wonderful outing. The whole package makes this castle score very high in my personal favourites, and trust me, I’ve seen quite some castles by now to make a good comparison, haha. I walked behind the castle a bit further to find some remains of I assume walls and a well, although it was mostly overgrown here, but the views and forest remain splendid, plus I saw a really pretty butterfly! Well, the castle does sit on Mount Gagyu, a designated national forest, so there’s that.

I then started making my way back to the parking lot, where I found the rest of the group I had travelled up with. The taxi dropped us off at the foot of the mountain rather than at the station, but for good reason: we were at the entrance of the Orii samurai residence, for which we had a discount ticket. The residence was actually pretty big, and it featured pretty lifesize dolls to bring some extra character into the house. It has a pretty garden, too. Right down the street, there is another samurai residence, the Haibara family one, who were high ranked samurai.  

After these two quick but nice visits, the walk continued to the final discount ticket place: Raikyuji temple. In the early 1600s, lord Ensyu Kobori took up residence in this temple instead of at the castle to be safe from war. He was involved in the development of the tea ceremony and designed gardens, so in this temple, you can find a very pretty rock garden, which is meant to be enjoyed and not walked in.

It really is lovely, although I found myself charmed by something else: there were small Buddha statues spread over the premises featuring the animals of the zodiac, so I had fun spotting them all. Well, all – I miss one, and when I went ‘what was that one even? A snake?’ I uh, ran into an actual snake, so I called it quits before I could accidentally summon other animals, haha.

It was pretty easy to walk back to the station from here, as I just had to follow the train tracks. Along the way, I came across some more temples and shrines, and generally just walked through a very charming town.

Just before the station, I could spot the castle way in the distance, so I whipped out my fancy zoom lens to take a picture of the main keep from here, haha. It really is high…

At the station, I ordered some Halloween specials at Starbucks since I’d only quickly had one bread roll in between all my exploring and settled in for a bit before returning to Okayama. I was lucky and caught another Yakumo, so that was a quick ride back.

And now I’m back in the hotel! I have been for a while, but I had to go back out for dinner and all, haha.

I’m trying to think of what to do tomorrow, as they predict rain for pretty much the entire country on Friday, and my Saturday is already fully booked. As I leave for Tokyo on Sunday morning, tomorrow is my only day with nice weather left, so hm.

I might go on a walk, but I’m not sure if I’m awake enough for that, haha. Regardless, the day trips I still have written out as options are less than an hour from here, so I won’t have to get up super early, yay!

 Good night for now and see you tomorrow!