Japanese Garden

SHOYOEN (Strolling Garden)

The Shoyoen was created during the Edo period. It is a "strolling" Japanese Garden. Here you can appreciate the beauty of the changing of the four seasons. The garden was given its name by Issai Satoh (1772-1859), a Confucian scholar of the Edo period.

The place where the Treasure House is now was previously the center of the temple. In June of 1876, the Emperor Meiji stayed here for three days and former President of the US General Grant stayed here for eight days in July of 1897.

Crossing Bridge - Nikko

This was a pretty crossing bridge close to our Hostel. It was raining and we were shopping near by, so we all headed over - beautiful, ne?

Nikko

This last weekend I headed down to Nikko with the Girls - 6 of us to be exact (Simone, Ros, Kristi, Step, Grace, and I). We drove for a little over 3 hours there on Saturday morning in the rain and over the curvy mountains, but we found a nice Hostel to crash, relaxed at an onsen and then checked out the wonderful shrines and waterfalls on Sunday before driving back. Fun times!

Nikko is a small city at the entrance to Nikko National Park. It is most famous for the Toshogu, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.
Nikko has been a center of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship for many centuries, and Nikko National Park continues to offer scenic, mountainous landscapes, lakes, waterfalls, hot springs, wild monkeys and hiking trails.

Kanazawa

Kanazawa is one of Japan's most under-rated tourist destinations, usually just a footnote to Kyoto or a possible "if you have some extra time" destination, but it's really worth seeing, especially for people looking for somewhere with lots to do but without too many crowds. A small, walkable city, Kanazawa is famous for the famous garden Kenrokuen, it's excellent museums, and is known as Sho Kyoto (Little Kyoto) because of all its temples. And then there's the seafood. It's fantastic and sushi shops here are as ubiquitous as takoyaki stands in Osaka and okonomiyaki sellers in Hiroshima. This tiny city will keep you busy for at least two days, and then if you have extra time, head for the Noto peninsula and it's glimpse of rustic, agrarian Japan, picturesque fishing villages and ruggedly beautiful coastal scenery. The name Kanazawa means Marshes of Gold and seems to come from the city's great wealth. One of Kanazawa's main thoroughfares is called Hyakumangoku Odori which means one hundred million koku (500 000 bushels of rice). The district of Kaga, of which Kanazawa was a part, was once the richest in Japan, and became an important cultural center. Go sight-seeing in Kanazawa, and there is one name that you are going to hear over and over. It's Maeda. They built the castle, Kenrokuen, Myoryuji temple, started the famous hyakumangoku festival, and there's a good chance that any sword, piece of calligraphy, or painting was either theirs, or had some connection to them. The family was strongly allied with famous ruler Oda Nobunaga and were sent to Kanazawa in 1583 to rule over both Kaga, and his original domain of Noto. Under their influence, the city grew into a wealthy castle town, and attracted many artisans, actors, and scholars becoming a thriving culture center. Because it was on the list of cities that were not allowed to be bombed during WWII, Kanazawa is very well preserved.

Kenrokuen Garden

Kenrokuen Garden The first stop on any visit to Kanazawa should be, Kenrokuen. One of Japan's three most famous gardens, no matter how many times you visit it, you'll always find something new and interesting that will have you asking yourself how you could have missed something so beautiful the last time. No matter how crowded it gets, it always feels peaceful, and even if there's a tour group going by with squeaky voiced tour guide talking through a megaphone, there's a good chance you won't even notice because you'll be transported away by some little detail that you're busy investigating. Kenrokuen is set on top of a hill beside Kanazawa castle, and is a mossy, woodsy garden that feels very different from the brighter, more open gardens like Korakuen and Kairakuen. The foresty feeling helps you to forget about the thousands of people you are sharing the garden with, and there is something to offer the visitor in every season. Spring has beautiful cherry blossoms, and then in summer the park comes alive with so much greenery and so many beautiful flowers that it's almost overwhelming. Spring is the time for momiji, maple trees with tiny leaves will impress even Canadians and New Englanders who think they've seen it all. The word Kenrokuen is rather difficult to translate, but is usually rendered as "Garden of the six sublimities" or "Garden combining six". The name comes from the six attributes of the garden - spaciousness, seclusion, artificiality, antiquity, water, and beautiful views. Kenrokuen is special because there are very few gardens in Japan that combine all six of these important attributes. Once known as Renchi-tei, Kenrokuen was originally the garden of a tea house known as Renchiochin and work on it was first begun by the daimyo Tsunanori in the 1620's. It was improved and expanded over the years, and continued to evolve until the 1820's. It can get very crowded, so you are better off avoiding weekends and holidays.

Ninja Temple

Kanazawa's second best tourist attraction is a temple called Myoryu-ji. Also known as the Ninja Temple, it is full of traps and tricks, but has nothing to do with guys in black pajamas. The nickname comes from the numerous secret doors, hidden tunnels, pit traps, and secret rooms where samurai waited to stab intruders through the shoji (paper screens). Built in 1643, Myoryu-ji was constructed at a time of great political intrigue and shows that either life was incredibly dangerous in those days, or the builders were incredibly paranoid. It's the only one of it's kind in Japan so the latter explanation seems more likely. Take the 20 minute tour, and you will first be shown the main hall, which looks like an ordinary temple, but had hiding places for samurai guards, and a donation box which also functioned as a pit trap. Taking the stairs down from the main hall, the guide shows you the secret space where guards with long, wicked-looking spears waited to spear the legs of intruders through the paper screens between the steps. There are also several ingenious secret entrances, and an old well, which is said to contain a secret passage that leads all the way to Kanazawa castle. Although it appears to be a two-storey building when viewed from outside, it actually has four floors. The reason for the deceiving appearance is that during the Edo period it was illegal to construct buildings with more than three floors. There are numerous secret rooms in the temple, the most carefully concealed of which was the "suicide room" where the lord could commit seppuku if the temple was overrun by enemies.

Theme of our Trip

Don't know why this pic CAN'T be turned upwards, but you get the idea! This was pretty much the theme of our trip - BEING LOST!!!

We followed maps left and right and still couldn't find our hotel, the ninja castle, or tons of cafes. hehe Isn't Grace cute trying to ask this local girl where we are?!? Go Anpanman!!!