Matsumoto Castle

Well I've been in Japan just about 2 weeks now.  I don't have any pictures of Yokota Air Base yet.  I did take a tour to a very nice Japanese castle called Matsumoto Castle in the city of Matsumoto.  Here is a wiki link for information on the castle:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsumoto_Castle.  We left base at 6:30am by bus.  Our first stop was at a museum in Matsumoto that displayed Japanese Woodblock paintings called Ukiyo-e.  It was very interesting. I didn't take any pictures there.  Afterward we headed on to the castle.

Here's the gated entrance onto the grounds once you have your ticket.

Through the gate is a nice garden area.  Through the green trees you can see the Azalea "bush" below.  I don't know how they grew this thing, but it looked more like small tree. 

  

 Just past the garden area you get your first glimpse of the castle.

Yours truly.

Here is the entrance to the castle itself. 

Below is the view back down the steps where you enter.  Everyone must take of their shoes.  There was a gentleman standing outside that was handing everyone plastic bags to put your shoes in. 

Here's a painting of what the castle and the area around it looked like almost 400 years ago.

 





This a shot of the inside.  This particular floor wasn't lit as well as the other floors.  It was intended to be a hidden floor and was made without any real "windows".  The view from the outside appears as if the building has 5 floors, while there is actually 6. 

 

 There were several displays of weapons and armor spread throughout the building. 

This view is looking down the main avenue toward the castle.

This area had picnic tables set up.  On the other side of it was the gift shop.  Couldn't resist this pic because of the Wisteria hanging from the overhang.  Did it smell good!!

Here's a shot as I moved around to the back of the castle looking across the moat.

And here at the far end of the moat looking back.

Here are two pictures from up in the upper levels of the castle.  I thought it was pretty neat to see the snow on the mountains to the west.  Kind of looked like the Rockies.  The Japanese call the mountains the Japanese Alps.

This one below is just looking back toward the gift shop which was near the entrance to the grounds.

These two pictures, above and below, are of the Yohashira-Jinja Shrine I came across while walking around town.  It was off of an alley of shops. 

And last but not least, Mt. Fuji.  On the bus ride to Matsumoto there were numerous chances to snap a quick shot.  But they were just that:  QUICK.  The ride was through pretty mountainous terrain.  So as soon as you'd get a glimpse and go for the camera, a mountain would block the view or we'd go through a tunnel.  I wasn't expecting so many opportunities.  So, on the way back I was ready.  This was the best of the 5 that I grabbed.  There were times that we were much closer, but I happened to be on the wrong side of the bus then.  The last weekend in May, there is a trip to Mt. Fuji that I'm going to try to get on.