Golden Week!! Part 4

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I woke up still sick, and was in no rush to get up. Two of my friends had already left to get breakfast at a beef bowl shop, so while they were out I took my sweet time getting ready (and enjoyed a bit of Sunday morning cartoons). By around 10am we checked out of our amazing hostel and headed to Mie on what was a beautiful warm, sunny day.

From Nara, we took the train to Iga-Ueno station and from there we jumped on a private train line to go to Iga City. The train going to the city was decorated like a ninja, which made it obvious we were heading in the right direction! (We were a bit concern with the lack of civilization around.) It didn't take long to get to our station, and once we got there we saw a bunch of people (both young and old) dressed up as ninjas!

Once our luggage was taken care of, we headed off to the Ninja Festival! We bought a discounted combo ticket that gave us entry to 3 places: The ninja museum/house, Iga Castle, and the float festival museum. Shortly after entering the main festival grounds, we were approached by 2 middle-aged men who were part of a volunteer group giving free tours to foreigners! Lucky! So the 2 men plus one woman, took the 4 of us on a tour. We stopped off at a monument for the famous [haiku] poet, Basho, and were told briefly about it before we went to Iga Castle. The castle was filled with many artifacts about samurai and life during that time. Luckily we had the guides to translate and explain it all to us! Like all castles I've been to, the view from the top was beautiful.
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After the castle, we hurried to the ninja house in hopes to get into the next show. The ninja house was my favourite part of the festival. They demonstrated all the hidden doors and tickets in the ninja house. For example, the rotating door (a classic), a hidden ladder disguised as a shelf, and a hidden door that could only be opened by sliding a thin piece of paper through a slit on the side. The house also had some English signs :)
In the basement was a museum about ninja weaponry and such. We found out that ninjas didn't actually wear black, they wore navy blue (because black showed a white outline or something in the moonlight). We then got in line to watch a ninja show (and we managed to get front row seats)! It was an amazing and funny to watch! And after that we went to the last part of the museum, which was about the life and training of a ninja. All very interesting.

Once we were done there we headed to the last place on our ticket. It was a museum about a float parade/ festival that they have in Mie (Iga). I liked this place the least because they had really creepy mannequins. After the museum we said goodbye and thanked our tour guides and went back to the main festival area for food. But go figure... I couldn't eat any of it (all pork).

We left to find me some food around 4, and of course with my luck, the closest convenient store was a 20 to 30-minute walk away!! (Not very convenient!) I bought some food quickly and we hurried back to the station to catch the 5:15 train. From there we headed to Yokkaichi city to check into our hotel. One and a half more days and our trip is over!~

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