The Geishas of Kanazawa

 Our next stop was the city of Kanazawa, known for its Edo-period architecture, samurai history and traditional arts. It is rather isolated from the big cities, and therefore escaped being damaged during World War II.

Our tour included a visit to another garden - Kenrokuen, one of the three most famous in Japan - and lunch and entertainment from modern-day geishas, or geiko.

We drove by a shop selling traditional kimonos. It is
apparently almost impossible to dress in
a full kimono without help.

Our first stop, Kenrokuen, is not only one of the most famous gardens, but it also has a history dating from the Edo period. The precursor of the garden was begun in 1676 by the feudal lord of the Kaga Domain which ruled the area as the lotus pond garden of his villa. The garden is just across the street from Kanazawa Castle, the lord's home. The garden was expanded by a successor in 1822 when he added a stream and bridges, and gave the garden its current name. Only a couple of years later the lord's villa was demolished and the garden expanded to its current composition. After the Meiji era began and feudal domains were abolished, the garden was opened to the public in 1874.

The Kotoji Lantern, one of the most famous
sculptures in the park. People line up to
stand on a nearby bridge and have their photos
(and some TV footage) taken with it in the background. The TV
footage is featured in programming during Golden Week, so we saw
lots of people waiting in line.

This is the Ganko Bridge over one of the streams.
Each granite stone is shaped like a turtle; it is also
said that those who cross it will have a long life.

There is a very interesting story about garden design in Japan, the elements needed to make an excellent garden, and how Kenrokuen manages to combine them all. Its name means 'Ken' (combined) 'Roku' (six) 'En' (garden), or the garden of six attributes. The inspiration for the name came from the classical Chinese text 'Chronicles of the Famous Luoyang Gardens', paraphrased here by the man who named the garden:

'A garden cannot combine all six excellent elements. If there is spaciousness, seclusion will be diminished. If artifice dominates, it will lack antiquity. If there are many watercourses, it will lack commanding views. Koen Garden is the only garden that combines these six elements.'

So spacious areas don't allow seclusion, human design doesn't allow for a feeling of natural timelessness, and if there are too many waterfalls, streams and ponds, there won't be any panoramic views. From what we saw of the garden, it really does incorporate all six elements.

This Neagari Pine tree is about 200 years old. The heavy
branches are supported by the poles. It is said
that the tree was deliberately planted on a mound of soil
and the soil was removed to expose the roots once it grew.
Now as you can see, there are 40 roots exposed up to
6 feet from the ground.

The largest pond, Kasumigaike.

Hisago Pond and the Midori Waterfall in the distance.
Apparently the waterfall was recreated over and over
until it provided the sound the lord wanted.

There are even a couple of tea-houses in the garden, open
for guests to enjoy green tea or matcha.

This fountain is said to be the oldest in
Japan, built in the 1820s or 1830s. The water
comes from the larger pond and the
elevation difference allows it to rise to about
10 feet high.

Our tour guide showed us around the garden, as we all would probably have gotten lost on our own. She told us that she used to call the garden her 'office' since she spent so much of her guiding time there!

After we finished at the garden we headed toward our lunch and geisha performance stop. This restaurant, Ootomorou Ryotei is a Japanese-style dining house that is almost 200 years old! And the woman who owns it now is a direct descendant of the man who established it when he was master chef to the feudal lord.

We sat down to lunch in a private dining room with a small stage at one end.

Our two geisha entertainers introduced themselves to us all and gave each of us their calling cards. They suggested that if we kept the cards in our wallets they would give us good luck.

We began on our 7 course kaiseki lunch:

We didn't know the details of the lunch, except that it included fish and seafood, before we arrived. Some of the courses looked a bit daunting, and some of our tablemates balked at eating a few of the dishes. The only thing about that is that the staff would leave the unfinished plates on the table, expecting that, in accordance with Japanese practice, no food would be wasted and everything would be eaten. Once they were clear on the 'pickiness' of their visitors, they would take the plates away.  I had no problem with any of the food we were given, and neither did Larry for the most part. I think people were turned off by the cooked snail, much larger than an escargot, that came on the first plate!

 Courses 1 and 2: You can't see the snail in its shell from here, but it has the
toothpicks sticking out of it!

 Course 3: A light soup broth with a crab 'dumpling'
in the bottom.

Course 4: Tuna and Flounder sashimi

Course 5: Sea Bream stuffed with Okara, or soy pulp
which is actually very nutritious.

The flounder tasted really nice, too. The pink piece
on top is pickled ginger.

Course 7 and 8: The burnt rice in broth and pickled
vegetables. Don't know what happened to the duck;
maybe I was so engrossed in the entertainment that
I forgot to take the picture!

Our geishas interspersed the meal with their music, singing and dancing. And even invited audience participation to play the drums and a game that is probably the ancestor of 'Rock Paper Scissors'.

A word about the geisha, or geiko, as they are referred to in some cities. Rather than the negative connotation that they were 'ladies of the evening', this was not the case, nor is it that today. It is a rigorous 5-6 year apprenticeship to learn the traditional craft, including music, playing instruments, dance, and conducting tea ceremonies. Although there are only about 1,000 geisha working all over Japan, it is a respected traditional craft and no one makes fun of it. 

This lady was particularly talented at playing
the flute and the shamishen

And our dancer and singer led the audience participation, urging people to come up and play the drums while she sang a song. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star was also in the rotation!

Of course, everyone had to have a photo taken
with our entertainers. They were lovely ladies.

The lady on the right is the current owner of the restaurant.

That was a fantastic lunch and a great tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and helpful, and the geisha experience was one I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone visiting Kanazawa, or for that matter to do again myself.

Sakaiminato: Small City, Big Presence

 Our next port of Sakaiminato is a small city of only about 32,000 inhabitants, but there is a lot to see and do in the area, as we found out on our all-day tour.

Our first stop on the tour was at the Adachi Museum of Art. This museum was established by Adachi Zenko, a native of the area, who became a businessman and art collector, especially of the works of Japanese artist Yokoyama Taikan. He was also a passionate garden designer, and when he decided to establish a museum to exhibit his collection, he created six gardens totaling 165,000 square metres in size to surround the galleries. We had about an hour here to see the paintings from Taikan and various modern Japanese artists, and also marvel at the gardens. These gardens are ranked #1 in Japan, and that's saying something, but you can understand why when you see them.

Adachi also purchased the hills behind so he could
curate the backdrop for this garden.

A poster showing the garden in all 4 seasons

A statue of Adachi who lived to age 91

After that visit, we went to see Matsue Castle. Matsue is one of the three great lakeside castles in Japan. It was built in 1607-1611 by the feudal lord of Matsue in the early Edo Period. That's when the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled Japan. The story as told by our guide is that at some point the castle burned down and the lord requested to be able to rebuild. The Shogunate denied him, not wanting anyone below them to have a castle. After a number of years, the lord asked to have a watchtower built on the site instead, to protect the area from attack from the sea. This was granted, so the lord rebuilt the castle with a few small changes to make it look more like a watchtower.

The tour includes entry into the castle and the opportunity to walk, in stocking feet as you have to remove your shoes, up into the five levels inside. The views are spectacular, but the staircases get steeper and the wooden treads narrower as you go up. Larry managed the second level and I went up one more.

The original decorations from the rooftop. You may recall
this mythical creature shape from a sculpture at the Imperial Palace Gardens
in Tokyo. It seems to grace all Edo Period palaces

The view from the third level

A statue of the first lord who built the castle

That certainly was interesting! After leaving the castle, we could visit the Matsue Temple next door as well as the Jozan Inari-jinja Shrine.

Matsue Temple

Jozan Inari-jinja Shrine, famous for its fox
statues

And you can never forget the appropriately
decorated vending machines!

Our next stop for the day was in another garden area. This time it was Daikonshima Island in Lake Nakaumi where Japan's famous peonies are grown. The island has been connected by a bridge for many years. This was done so that the workers in the peony fields would be able to commute to their families, rather than being away for their working week and unable to get back to the mainland.

A small island we passed in the lake
on our way to Yuushien Garden.

Some of the peony fields

When we arrived at the garden, our first stop was the restaurant where lunch had been set up for us....after all, we were cruise passengers who hadn't eaten for at least 3 hours! It was a little scary to say the least, to see all of this stuff set out in front of us. But our guide and the wait staff were very helpful, and lunch was delicious!

The pots on the fire contained broth and
vegetables. The bowl in front was our rice....

and there was a pretty lacquered box for
everyone holding 3 more plates of small
bites from pork to fish

We had bowls of peony noodles - yes, they
put crushed peony petals in the noodle
dough - to add to the broth

It was a bit of challenge to get the noodles out of the pot with chopsticks, but we managed in the end!

After lunch we had a brief tour with our guide and then were given 45 minutes to wander around on our own. One of the big draws of Yuushien at this time of year, especially during Golden Week, is the Peony Festival. During late April and early May the first blooms have to be cut off of the peony plants to encourage more robust growth. Rather than send them to the compost heap, they are brought to the garden and strewn on one of the large ponds. The effect is quite beautiful. We're glad we were here at the right time to see it!

It isn't just peonies on display; there are lots
of roses here, too!

The gardens are beautifully designed

And there is a Peony House where new
cultivars are displayed. There's a large shop
near the parking lot for you to buy plants as well.

The Peony Pool

Garden employees are constantly adding more
flowers to the display

Our final stop for the day was back in the city of Sakaiminato. This was the birthplace of famous manga artist Mizuki Shigeru, creator of the GeGeGe no Kitaro series, for anyone who follows this form of comic. He is such an iconic figure that there's even a whole museum dedicated to his life and artistic works. This is a photo of a photo showing him with one of his creations turned into a bronze figurine:

This is an example of some of his cartoons:

And some of his books. He seemed to have a real liking for weird creatures. He is accredited with turning Japanese folk creatures into modern pop culture, and influencing at least 2 generations of comic and animation creators.

There was a whole room dedicated to sculptures of his more 'monsterish' creations:

And in the main foyer a rotating Kitaro giving his father, who died and was reincarnated as a sentient eyeball, a bath.

Once we had examined the exhibits in the museum, which were quite fascinating, we had an opportunity to stroll along Mizuki Shigeru Road, where bronze sculptures of over 1,000 of his characters have been set along the sidewalk. Who could resist taking photos of some of them?

Even the manhole covers in the road have Kitaro
on them!

This is his version of his parents

This was unexpectedly interesting, considering we know nothing about manga. But it is quintessentially Japanese and a big part of the culture.

We headed back to the bus and the ship after this, as it had already been a pretty full day. The local public washroom near the parking lot was decorated in the spirit as well:

Kitaro, his friend Neko-Musume or Cat-Girl, and
his Eyeball father

There was a fair crowd of people at the pier to see us off as we left, probably because they'd never seen Crystal Symphony before. It's been really nice to see the drummers and the bands and the people in many of the ports sending us off. We had noticed that so far we hadn't seen another cruise ship anywhere, even in Tokyo. The larger ships likely go to the port of Yokohama instead.