Monday 9th January
In between buses and trains from Nagano to Gifu we decided
to sneak a spot of sightseeing into our travel day.
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| Matsumoto Castle |
Jumping ship at Matsumoto station in Nagano, we secured a
locker for our suitcases and a bus ticket for Takayama before venturing off to
the Castle.
Matsumoto Castle is regarded as one of the beautiful castles
in Japan and I swear to god it’s one of the only ones that hasn’t been burnt
down at some stage. The grounds were covered in pure white snow and the moat
partially frozen with tracks meandering through it where the ducks had swum.
Climbing the steep stairs inside the castle proved
difficult, given they were presumably designed for ascending “one the double”
and we had to wear the indoor slippers provided that are prone to flying off
even on flat ground.
Similar to Matsuyama castle the interior was speckled with
display cabinets that hosted an array of artefacts from Samurai armour and
painted scrolls to bullets and guns. An additional turret designed for moon
viewing was constructed once the threat of military invasion had ceased.
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| Shirakawago |
The drive to Takayama took us through mountains and long dam
spotted rivers where the roads were so narrow that the bus had to stop multiple
times to allow oncoming traffic to pass. The bus rides made for some nice
downtime when we were able to simply sit there and watch the snowy scenery pass
by.
Our room in Takayama was traditional Japanese style complete
with Tatami mats and futons. By sheer fluke Hayden, a friend of mine from uni,
happened to be in Takayama on that night as well. He showed us to a local
okonomiyaki restaurant where we had dinner. We made quite the entrance after
Henry announced our arrival by smacking his head on the low door frame and the
locals turned around to see a 6 foot 2 gaijin flanked by two laughing friends coming
through the door.
We returned to the hotel to christen the sake pourer and
cups that I had bought that afternoon.
Tuesday 10th January
Another day, another bus.
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| Shirakawago |
It hadn’t snowed for a couple of days so when we arrived in
Shirakawago (thatched roof village and world heritage site) but there were
traces still lingering accompanied by a crisp chill in the air.
We climbed up
one of the hills so as to look down over the village, which looked like
something from a story book. Steam was rising from the thatched rooves as the sun
broke through the clouds.
The traditional gassho-zukuri get their name from the unique shape of their rooves, which are
built to withstand heavy snowfall in winter. The name reflects how the rooves
are shaped like a pair of hands clasped in prayer. We were able to enter one of
the houses (which are around 250 years old) and I swear it was warmer outside…
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| Takayama Castle Ruins |
It was interesting to see the range of aged thatch, from
houses that looked like they had been re-thatched in the past couple of years,
to ones that had a healthy layer of moss on them.
Back in Takayama we made our way to Ninomaru Park and the Takayama
castle ruins – while the walk was lovely, there really wasn’t a lot left to see
of the castle but for stones and markers.
We decided to embark on a cross-town mission to the enormous
gold roofed building that we had seen from the ruins. The building turned out
to be the Mahikari World Shrine (or Sukyo Mahikari World Headquarters).
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| Mahikari World Shrine |
As it
was closed for the evening we were unable to enter the building we circled the
perimeter though were still unable to grasp how incredibly huge this structure
was. From what I could gather, the main principles of the practice are to develop
a true world peace through the use and understanding of light energy and universal
principles, followers are not required to discard any previous beliefs or
religious practices they may have followed.
We found a Nepalese curry restaurant for dinner, before
returning to the hostel and preparing for our final leg of the trip.
Next stop: Tokyo
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