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Published: September 29th 2013
Saturday was a late start because the sword shop didn’t open until 10. I headed down there at about 10:30 and realised that I had walked right past it last Monday! To be fair though, it was right across the road from Nijo castle which had my attention at the time. The shop was very small, but when I arrived there was nobody else looking at the swords. The lady had very little English but we managed to communicate well enough.
On display they had a range of swords, from genuine samurai swords (for $10,000+) to replicas. Needless to say, I was looking at the replicas. Not just because of the price, but also because it turns out that genuine swords require a lot of paperwork to export – mostly to ensure they are not national treasures leaving the country. The replicas varied in quality, and I ended up choosing one of the better ones – better steel and also it had a leather grip. I picked out a very nice wakizashi (or “medium” as the lady called it) and organised for them to make a matching katana. I also bought a proper stand for them. As we
were finalising the deal, the shop was filling up and it became quite crowded. Also, a fellow who works there turned up and he spoke some English. He checked the details I had worked out with the lady, and it turned out we had in fact made the deal correctly. The swords and the stands will be shipped when the katana is finished, and should arrive the week after I get back.
With that all sorted, I was feeling pretty happy so I headed to the train station to catch a Shinkansen to Osaka. It’s only about 12 minutes by bullet train, but I reserved a seat anyway so I could sit in the green class. As it turned out, the fellow had booked me in for a train that left in 4 minutes which didn’t end up being quite enough, despite me hurrying through the station, and I missed it. No drama though, I just booked a seat on the next one.
Once in Osaka I had a second train mix-up but again it was not a drama. I had to catch a train from Shinosaka (the station for the Shinkansen) to Osaka,
before changing to the Osaka loop line. I had written down that I had to head towards Tennoji, but it turns out I chose the wrong train. As I mentioned, it was no drama because it’s a loop line – I just went the long way. Annoyingly though, when I realised my error I looked at what I had written down and I realised I had also written down the correct platform but ignored it! I’m an idiot sometimes.
Anyway, I got to Osakajokoen station and headed into the massive park that surrounds the castle. Being a Saturday afternoon, the locals were making the most of the sunny day – from picnics, to baseball, to bubble-blowing, and guitar-playing. It is a big park, and the castle is typical of Japanese castles in that the entrances are all offset, so it took me a bit of walking to get to the castle proper.
There were really big crowds and lots of shops in the grounds outside the keep. Osaka castle was different to the other castles I have visited because you only have to pay when you go into the keep, not the grounds. I
bought my ticket and joined the queue to get in the lifts that would take us nearly to the top. I had to walk the last couple of floors, and the museum is designed for you to walk back down to the ground floor while looking at the exhibits.
The view from the top was great. Osaka is a massive city! Working my way down I checked out all of the exhibits which detailed the history of the castle, focussing on the siege of Osaka and subsequent battle which was the final chapter in the civil war known as “Sengoku Jidai” in 1615. There were also some details of the castle during the Meiji restoration (the last time the castle was used as a military installation) and some interesting pictures that were drawn and painted by visiting Europeans over the years. When I got to the bottom, I was pretty tired so I decided to head back to Kyoto - this time catching the correct train on then loop line.
On Sunday morning I woke up early because I was heading to the home of a ninja clan – Iga. Iga is not far
away from Kyoto (about the same as Nara) but there are no direct trains. In fact, the fewest number of trains I could do was 3. I had all the details written down again, so it all went smoothly and I got to see some actual countryside for a change, instead of the non-stop cityscape I have seen so far.
I arrived at Igaueno station and opted to walk to the castle (about 3km) instead of catching the private train so that I could have a look at the town. All in all, there wasn’t much to see but it was a nice walk.
The castle is on top of a hill that overlooks the town. It has a commanding position over a flat valley which is surrounded by mountains. Like Osaka though, it is a reconstruction. And also like Osaka, I didn’t have to pay until I went into the keep. I decided to buy a combination ticket that included the keep, the ninja museum and the Danjiri museum which are all in the park around the castle.
Inside the keep was a museum with various bits and pieces that
have been found in or near the castle, plus some arms and armour that belonged to various owners of the castle over the years. There were also a couple of ninjas climbing the walls. Like previous castles, the view from the top was great.
From the keep I headed to the ninja museum. I got a little lost on the way because none of the signs have English, or Roman characters. But the park is small so I couldn’t get too lost. The museum started off with a reconstructed ninja house and I watched a demonstration of the various hiding places and other trick installations. The lady giving the demonstration gave it all in Japanese, but thankfully they had English banners which explained everything she was saying. It was pretty cool – rotating walls, a ladder disguised as a shelf and other tricky stuff.
From there it was into the museum proper. There was a lot of really good information and I was pleased to see they didn’t propagate any of the crazy ninja myths. For example, they explained that ninjas didn’t actually wear black (it can actually stand out at night) but navy
The Battle of Osaka
Osaka castle museumblue like peasants did. The museum was focussed on their training and equipment for the most part and there was plenty that I didn’t know before.
Next was the highlight of the museum. There was a stage show where three men and a lady gave us demonstration of various ninja skills. Some of it was quite funny, apparently, because everyone was laughing. Unfortunately, because it was all in Japanese, I could only laugh at the physical comedy – like when one fellow pretended to throw his ninja star at the audience, making people jump. The show also included a guy showing some fancy tricks with an umbrella – mostly spinning it while various objects rolled around the top – first a ball, then a square cushion and then a coin. It was impressive, but I’m not quite sure on the ninja connection. The show finished up with a series of mock fights between the performers, which I’m happy to say that the lady won.
Next I headed to the Danjiri museum. Danjiri are big cart things that they decorate and bring out for a festival. They are part of a parade through the town.
There wasn’t much English in the museum so I’m afraid I didn’t get much out of the visit. The Danjiri looked pretty cool though.
From there I decided to check out the temples in the Tera Machi Dori. I liked the Ueno Tenjingo shrine, but I wasn’t overly impressed with the others. By this point I had had enough so I began the process of catching trains back to Kyoto. I’m not sure why exactly, but it seems it was easier to head back to Kyoto via different train routes, but it still took 3 trains after the private railway.
Anyway, tomorrow is my last day trip from Kyoto – to Inuyama castle. It’s quite a long journey so I will need to be away reasonably early.
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