The Castle Town of Hirosaki

We must be at home! I finally have the chance to pick up the last couple of blog posts for this trip, almost 2 weeks after my previous post.

Our next stop was in the port of Aomori, still in the main agricultural area of Japan, but now the main crops are fruit, more specifically apples, rather than rice. Our tour took us to the town of Hirosaki to view the famous castle and learn a bit about the local culture.

Arriving at Aomori in the morning. The Tsugaru 
Mountains are an impressive backdrop.

Mount Iwaki is still an active volcano! And is
known as 'Tsugaru Fuji'. Every mountain that
looks at bit like Fuji with the snow cap has its own reference to it.

One of many apple orchards we passed along the way.
There were also some peach orchards. They also grow
garlic in this area.

 Once we arrived in Hirosaki, we headed straight for the Neputa Village. This is a showcase of local craftmanship, mainly in connection with the annual Neputa Festival, but also including other crafts like pottery and woodworking.

The Neputa Festival is held at the beginning of August when the summer is at its peak. It is known as the 'sleep banishing' festival because, when it began over 300 years ago, the sweltering heat and humidity would make the farmers drowsy, neglectful of their duties and unable to ward off evil spirits. To avoid this they placed small lanterns on the river as vessels to carry their sleepiness away.

The Neputa Festival is really a series of parades held daily during the first week of August. Lanterns of many sizes, from very small for children to carry to gigantic fan-shaped floats the are carried on a litter or pulled on carts by a team of men. Along with the brightly lit (with LED lights nowadays) floats, evil spirits are warded off by playing the taiko drums. At the Village we were treated to a taiko drum and shamishen demonstration and toured the exhibition hall of floats and lanterns.

The taiko drum demonstration. It sure is loud,
and this is a very small drum compared
to some I saw in photos online.

Smaller floats can be carried by two people. Hirosaki's
festival is knows for these fan-shaped floats with warriors
on one side and elegant ladies on the other.

The largest floats must be 15 to 20 feet high,

Some floats are even three-dimensional. Aomori's
Neputa has more of this style.

The shamishen played by a pro. There is
a gallery of the best shamishen players
in the exhibition, too.

As we walked through the exhibition we were amazed at some of the beautiful painting on the floats. Each float is crafted by local associations rather than professionals, including painting the warrior and lady images on the front and back. There are probably people who study art just so they can paint their community float each year.

Small lanterns. The red fish on the bottom row are
modeled after a specific goldfish species unique to
Tsugaru that is a harbinger of good luck. These are
most often carried by children.

This one struck me for the beautiful and simple
artwork

Another version of the goldfish

A model of various sizes of float and how
they are carried in the parade.

Of course we weren't there during the festival, but here is a very impressive model of Hirosaki Castle on a float in 2015. Photo credit to http://jaapan.de. If you are interested in more detail, their blog post is very informative.

After the visit to the exhibition, we toured the craft workshop where we could have bought a number of things from wooden toys to beautiful laquerware and even a goldfish neputa lantern. Watching the artisans at work was very interesting.

There is also a beautiful Japanese style garden outside the hall, which we visited for a little while.

There are even Tsugaru Nishiki, the famous
goldfish, in the pond.

Azalea blossoms and Mt. Iwaki in
the background

Hirosaki Castle is only a short walk away, and that was our next stop. On the way our guide took us through what is left of the castle's cherry blossoms. The Cherry Blossom Festival ended only the day before we arrived, and the food and souvenir stalls were being taken down as we passed by.

Hirosaki Castle has two moats. During the Cherry Blossom Festival you can take a boat ride along the moats to view the castle and blossoms from a different angle. The park around the castle, which was opened to the public in 1895, has more than 2,600 ornamental cherry trees (double blooms, no fruit) all donated by local citizens. It must be spectacular in the height of the blooming period. Too bad we were just a little too late to see it!

The first gate we reached was also under restoration and covered with scaffolding. Of course I had to take a photo! I still plan to go through all(!) of my travel photos and make that album of famous sites we've almost seen because they were under scaffolding.

Boats still on the moat after the festival.

This is a famous 140 year old cherry tree

We were advised that the castle, which is normally open, would not be accessible due to construction, but we didn't understand the extent of the 'construction' until we got there. The castle has actually been moved away from its normal location on top of a stone wall so that the wall could be repaired and reinforced. Apparently this has to be done every 100 years or so.

As we crossed the bridge we saw the scaffolding
for the stone wall restoration and improvement.

And here's the castle tower, moved about 50
metres or 160 feet away from its usual perch.

This is as good a view as I could get of the castle tower and where it needs to be moved to. The steel scaffolding is in the distance. Apparently the work is supposed to be finished this autumn, and the locals can buy tickets to watch the process of moving the tower back to its position on the corner of the wall. That will be quite an impressive feat, but I have tremendous faith in Japanese ingenuity!

It is too bad that the castle is not open, but it is still a beautiful building and close enough to the cherry trees that iconic photos will still come out.

An overlook near the castle gives great views over
the city and toward Mt. Iwaki.

We took a slightly different route back to the Neputa Village, and had an opportunity to see our one and only blossom-covered walkway. It was a popular spot.

One of the other castle gates overlooking
the moat.

As we walked along the path, a Great Blue Heron
flew over and landed by the moat across
from us.

The next stop on our tour was for lunch, which was at the buffet restaurant in a local hotel. The food was quite good and a mixture of everything from sushi to pizza. We tried to stick with the Japanese dishes, though.

After lunch we visited a street called Zenrin-gai, which is lined with traditional temples. Most of them are behind walls so we could catch a glimpse of them from the bus but not get much further than that. One, the Chosho-ji Temple, was open to visit and we spent about 20 minutes there.

One of the most impressive parts of this temple was the hall that contains statues of 500 disciples of Buddha, each one with a different facial expression.

This is the Zen Temple area with its own collection of wooden statues. The Buddhist Temple dates back to before Buddhism and Shintoism were separated, and some of the buildings had to be moved when this occurred.

Our final stop on the tour was to Saishoin Temple. This is famous for its five-tier pagoda, the northern-most in Japan.

This is the gate to Yasaka Shrine, right next to
Saishoin.

Saishoin-ji Temple dates back to 1532 and the head priests here have historically held very high positions, including Gonsojo or high-ranking monk. Monks of this stature are sometimes enshrined in five-tier pagodas, having almost the same status as relics of Buddha himself. The pagoda here is meant as a memorial to the fallen, whether friend or foe, dating back to the Sengoku period from the 1460s to the early 1600s.

One difference this temple has to any other we saw is that you can actually stay here overnight and have access to the illuminated buildings, including the pagoda, and take part in other meditations and rituals. It certainly would be an interesting experience.

The bell tower

This statue honours Kobo Daishi, the 
founder of the Shingon sect, to which
the temple belongs

The pagoda is also very interesting. It was completed in 1667 and is considered the most beautiful in the region. It is also an architectural marvel of sorts: the central pillar is made from one single cedar timber with no joints. That timber would have to be about 25 metres long, give or take. And, just like the Hagurosan Gojunoto in the forest on Mt. Haguro, it is earthquake-proof. The tiers are not attached to the pillar, but stacked on top of each other so they can move independently, and in the opposite direction from the pillar, during a seismic event. The other very interesting aspect of the pagoda is that it was built without using a single nail or other piece of iron. It is all interlocking wooden pieces.

This is the fountain where one purifies oneself
prior to praying at the main temple. The dragon
acts as the protector of the temple.

Larry even made a friend of the local cat.
She was wearing a collar, so she's not a stray.
I don't think we saw any stray animals
anywhere we went.

After our visit to the temple we boarded the bus heading back to Aomori and the ship. On the way we passed a golf course. Who wouldn't like to play with this scenery around?

Our next stop was the final port for this cruise, Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido.

Sakata and the Shrine in the Forest

 I had done a lot of research, trying to find out about the 265 steps to the Five-Tier Wooden Pagoda at Mt. Haguro. Were they steep? Were they inconsistent heights and depths? Were they all in one staircase or separate flights? Given how you can find almost anything on the internet nowadays, especially with the help of AI, I found it impossible. So we booked the tour to the shrine anyway, hoping for the best.

But before we even left the ship in the morning, we were greeted by a drumming band on the pier. If you were on the 'wrong' side of the ship and not going on tour, you might have been a little put off by it! 

It turns out that this is 'taiko drumming', or 'wakaido', a traditional form of drumming that is an integral part of the local culture, usually performed at community gatherings or festivals. In looking this up online, I discovered that it seems any cruise ship arrival at Sakata's port is considered one or the other of them, as a few people have posted video clips from their ships. The drumming is a bit more complex than just standing there bashing at a drum. There are correct stances required to keep in time, along with four principles of performance: movement, attitude, technique, and energy and flow. Had we known about all of this earlier, I would have given them much more of my attention. As it was, this group was very impressive and powerful.

As we set out from the city toward Mt. Haguro, about an hour's drive inland, we passed field after field after field of rice paddy. The northwest of Honshu island is the 'rice basket' of Japan. We had seen fields in other cities, even within neighbourhoods, but nothing to this extent. This is the Shonai Plain, one of the best regions in the country for rice.

This volume of rice field certainly isn't planted or harvested by hand. We saw some tractors in the fields, and it certainly looks like a very messy job! They were just starting planting season when we were there, and farmers were fertilizing the fields in preparation. 

As we approached Mt. Haguro we passed under a gigantic Torii Gate, the Hagurosan Otorii. I was on the wrong side of the bus to get a photo from the road - it is almost 24 metres tall and wide enough for 2 lanes of traffic - but we were in the back of the bus, so we do have one unique perspective:

Larry had a perfect seat to look up the
middle of the bus and out the front window.

And also a good view from the back window!!

The Hagurosan Otorii marks the entrance to the realm of the sacred mountain. Haguro is one of the Three Mountains of Dewa, or Dewa Sanzan. Each one represents a different world, with Haguro representing the present. The other two are Mt. Gassan, the past or afterlife, and Mt. Yudono, the future or rebirth. There is a sacred pilgrimage that visits all three mountains in order - present, past and future - known as the Journey of Rebirth, formerly only done by a sect of monks known as Yamabushi, but now open to anyone to complete.

We were visiting two sites here and, by walking the dreaded stairs, experiencing a section of the pilgrimage route.

The Zuishinmon Gate marking the
entrance to the pilgrimage route

And once we were through the gate, we realized that those 265 steps they were talking about were - all in one go! And not only that, down into a valley - which meant climbing back up them on the way out!

At least it was only 265 of them - all together just on Mt. Haguro there are 2,446 stretching all the way to the shrine at the summit, a total of 1.7 kilometres. As it turned out, we did the rest of the journey on our bus.

The stone steps, which are designated a national treasure of Japan and have been maintained by the priests associated with the shrine for centuries, are actually quite easy to navigate. They are not very high and quite wide.

There were quite a few people there so it
was almost impossible to get a good view
of the steps on the way down or back up.

At the bottom of the stairs we were greeted by a group of wooden shrines, known as massha and sessha, subordinate and auxiliary shrines dedicated to local Shinto deities.  They represent the physical transition from the earthly to the highly sacred place. Being made completely of wood, these small buildings blend beautifully into the environment.

Once past these shrines, we continued along the stone pathway and came to the Haraigawa River and its beautiful red Shinkyo Bridge.

 

The Iwatobun Shrine in front of the Suganotaki
Waterfall. The fall is manmade dating
from the 1600s, diverting water from Mt. Gassan.

It is mind-boggling to think that all of this work - the staircase, path, shrine buildings, bridges and even the waterfall - was done by (then) Buddhist monks. The mountain shrines didn't become Shinto until the Meiji period from 1867 when the Emperor decreed Shintoism as the state religion.

Crossing the stone bridge over the river

Next along the path we came to Jijisugi, the 'Grandpa Tree'. This is a cedar tree thought to be over 1,000 years old and, at over 43 metres (141 feet) tall, also the tallest of the more than 600 cedars on the mountain.

The 'Grandpa Cedar' is also thought to 
be home to Shinto deities, so it has the
shimenawa rope tied around it to ward off
evil spirits.

Ferns just coming up nearby. It is already
beautiful and serene, and will be lush
once the spring plants come out.

And finally, we reached the very impressive Hagurosan Gojunoto five-tier pagoda - and just in time for the sun to come out! The carving on this pagoda is awesome in the truest sense of the word. 

This pagoda was originally constructed somewhere between 800 and 1200, but must have been destroyed, as it was rebuilt in 1372. The natural colour of the wood has been preserved by shirakizukuri, a method of milling, drying and construction that maintains the original colour.

Something I hadn't noticed until I was researching this post - unlike almost all other five-tier pagodas in Japan, on this one ALL of the roofs are the same size. On the others, they get progressively wider toward the bottom. This pagoda was constructed to this design so that only the top roof has to bear the weight of snow in the winter - and they can get up to 10 feet here - rather than having each successive roof taking some of the weight on the outer edges. Apparently the people of Dewa Sanzan take turns climbing up the middle of the pagoda in winter to clear snow off the top roof.

Another interesting feature of the pagoda is the 'earthquake-proofing'. There is a large swinging pendulum inside to counteract any swaying caused by earthquakes. Obviously this works well, given that it has been standing for the past 650 years through countless tremors and quakes.

Just to give you a sense of scale. This pagoda
must have taken a very long time to build!

And yes, we were both here!

After this we headed back up the steps to the bus - no photos here, since we were in the middle of a large group and I followed a gentleman with bells on his backpack all the way - and were driven to the summit of Mt. Haguro to visit the Dewa Sanzan Shrine. 

The Main Hall, or Sanjin Gosaidan, which enshrines the deities of all three
mountains. When not covered in scaffolding it is a huge
vermillion red building with the thickest thatch roof in Japan.
The pond in front is sacred, too, known as Kagama-ike Pond.

One of these buildings is the shrine to Prince Hachiko, who lived in the 6th Century and first enshrined the mountain deities here in 593. Legend goes that he fled after his father was assassinated to search for a sacred Buddhist mountain, the 'Land of Dewa', where he could pray for an end to the world's suffering. He was guided by many people along the way, but it was a three-legged crow that finally brought him to Mt. Haguro. 

This is the monument to the three-legged crow
that led Hachiko to the mountain summit.

This bell was cast in 1274 and is the third largest cast-iron bell in Japan, weighing in at 10 tons! It hangs in a huge belfry with the same style of thatched roof as the Main Hall. It is a remnant of the time when the shrine was a Buddhist temple, as shrines don't normally have bells. Just like at the temples, this bell is only rung on New Year's Eve, the standard 108 times. I can just imagine what it must sound like close in. You can probably hear it all the way to the bottom of the mountain, too.

We had a bit of free time after this to wander around the shrine area. Then our guide gathered us all together and we walked around to Saikan, a restaurant behind the shrine, to partake in a Shojin Ryori. This is a meal of 'devotion cuisine' that was developed over 1400 years by the hermit Yamabushi monks of the mountain. 

There are other shojin ryori offered at Buddhist temples throughout Japan, but the one here at Mt. Haguro is different in that it consists entirely of sansai - seasonal and local ingredients harvested by the local people and Yamabushi. According to information I found online, these ingredients can take a lot of work from the growing to the harvesting and even final preparation. Our guide was able to tell us that everything was vegetarian and local spring harvest, but he wasn't able to translate exactly what many of the dishes were. Nonetheless I found everything delicious. The only thing I couldn't finish was the silken tofu dessert. Yes, all of this food, plus a bowl of miso soup, was for one person!

This was our dining room, which had previously
been a place of worship when the restaurant was
a temple.

After lunch we went back to the bus for the drive back into Tsuruoka, the satellite town of Sakata. According to our guide, there have always been rivalries between the two, sort of like the Toronto-Hamilton sports rivalries at home. But before we headed down from the summit of Mt. Haguro, we stopped at an observation area to get a great view of Mt. Gassan. Gassan is visible from just about anywhere in Tsuruoka,

Rice fields in front with Gassan as the backdrop.

On the way into town, our guide suggested that he ask the driver to pass by his house so he could show us some typical old house architecture. He inherited the house, which is about 80 years old, as well as a sake business which he still runs along with guiding. His family happened to be home, and he brought his daughter out to say hello to us all.

Our next stop was at the Chido Museum, a private museum that was donated in 1950 by the former (and final) Lord Sakai of the Shonai Domain, who wanted to promote local culture and history. Not only are there very interesting displays, including artwork and fishing gear - some of the longest fishing poles I've ever seen - but there are also buildings including the retirement house the Sakai lords built for themselves in 1863,  and two western style buildings: a former police station from 1884 and district administration offices from 1881. Attached to the retirement house is a Japanese style garden which is designated as a Place of Scenic Beauty.

The District Office

The Sakai lords' retirement house

Our friend Karen looking around inside

Some views of the garden. It even comes with its
own pair of ducks!

This is what the town looked like under the Shonai 
Domain. It actually had a triple moat system.

Some of the artwork on display

Our final stop for the day was at Zenpo-ji Temple. This is the 'other' five-tier pagoda in the prefecture; it is usual to only have one temple of great enough importance to have a five-tier pagoda in one region. And we got to see both of them on the same day! At Zenpo-ji you are even allowed to look inside the main level of the pagoda to see the Buddha statues there.

The temple

Some very intricate carving on the pagoda

This pagoda has the more traditional shape
with smaller roofs as you go higher.

The Buddha statues through the open doors.

One of the other temple buildings, the Gohyakurakan-do holds 531 'Rakan' or statues of Buddha's disciples. That is almost as impressive as the pagoda!

The Gohyakurakan from the outside

and the inside! Every one of the 531 statues
has a unique facial expression.

After this stop we headed back to the ship. This was one of the nicer days, so we had a chance to get the ticky-tacky tourist shot of the ship, even with Mt. Gassan in the distance.

Off to Aomori for our next port of call. This cruise has been exhausting with all the tours, but worth it!