Trip to Himeji Castle

17 September

Today we decided to take a break from fixing up the apartment and so headed out of Kyoto to Himeji Castle by train, about 1hr 20min ride from Kyoto Station. We actually managed to buy tickets on the correct line and board the correct train! Which was a great confidence booster. Himeji Castle is one of the 12 surviving great castles in Japan, built in 1580 of magnificent wood timbers covered with plaster. It has a long and colorful history and is now a Unesco World Heritage Site. Known for its beauty as well as its military might (there are special "stone dropping" windows which open downward so rocks or boiling oil could be dropped on the heads of enemies and vast halls where muskets and swords were stored), the castle is know as the White Heron. The tiled roofs with the fish-like creatures at the corners are particularly graceful. Unfortunately for us, major restoration at present means the main castle building is shrouded by scaffolds (until 2015) as all the roof tiles are being removed and replaced if necessary. Hence the above photo is not mine. However we were able to go up inside the restoration and see the top roof etc. And we were lucky to have an English speaking guide all to ourselves.

After many hours and feeling about to faint, we went to the more modern tea garden adjoining the castle, called Koko-en, and had a lovely lunch, sitting at a table overlooking the pond with its many large and colorful carp. We wish we could have brought a few back for Anne P. As the weather was ominous (apparently a typhoon in the vicinity) and the hour late, we walked back to the train station to come home. We even found our bus #5 at the station to come back to Shugakuin and missed the worst of the rain.

Yesterday (9/16) we went to a small department store and finally got proper towels and some other necessities. But I still haven't found decent coffee, though I know Starbucks exists in Kyoto in several place. In the afternoon we went to the National Museum of Modern Art in Okasaki-Koen. The ceramics were excellent. Oddly there were two rooms of Walker Evans' photographs from the 50's, one series of a Spanish village and one of a rural southern midwife. A not quite coherent collection we thought.

Once again we send our love.