Samurai Street

* Sunday

Samurai Street. Sounds like a new Japanese soap opera doesn't it? Well we went there today as a nice little day trip to Kakunadate (pronounced ka-kun-o-da-tay). In the Edo period this was a place where many Samurai and their families lived. The street today is all privately owned but some houses are open to the public for free or for a fee.

It was a doddle getting there on the train, then straight into the tourist office for a map and a small 2km walk to the street. We had seen some Samurai houses before in Kanazawa but this district felt much bigger and older. This Samurai has lost her sword...

We walked around the houses, admiring the emptiness of the rooms (there is no clutter in Japanese life it seems) and some of the old beautiful architecture. There were a few little shops around selling pretty posh stuff. It all seemed a fairly popular day trip by the hords of Japanese tourists here. In one of the shops was this mad man.

It got me thinking, it would be great if there was a kind of Kentwell Hall experience here, whereby you go and see how people lived in the Edo period. I'd very much enjoy that. I wonder if one exists? If it does, I think we're going to miss it. The free houses were all very interesting but didn't give much depth.

To combat this, we found the Aoyagi Samurai Manor Museum for a 500yen each. The manor house and other buildings on the property have belonged to the family since 1603. They were quite important Samurai family. In recent years, the descendents have collected together Samurai artefacts throught the generations of their family and have displayed it all in a fairly informative museum. And they even have a detailed leaflet with descriptions in English. Always useful for us mono-ligual plebs. This was the main house.

I was particularly interested in the Armory. I love the scary, devil like armor of the Samurai. I love the fake horns on the helmets and the scary masks...

There was also some pictures and art from the period discovered in the family storehouses.

We then went on to have a look at the hand on exhibits and demonstrations in the farmer's residence. There was weaving and cherry-bark crafts. It provided a little light entertainment for a Sunday afternoon.

Ame's particular favourite piece of craft was these massive gowns! We think they must have been for show or special occassions. Or for a big giant mega Samurai master!

It was all very pleasant. We learned a few things and left a little Samuraied out for the day. We had a lovely cuppa around the station, got the train back, had early tea (managed to concock sausage, chips and veg out of a menu!) then returned to our Ryokan. They informed us yesterday that they have a private function on in the restaurant tonight and sure enough there were lots of woman in kimonos walking into our place and then they had a rock and roll time downstairs laughing and joking. We listened from upstairs while we watched a film and did oour washing. Tomorrow we are going to the Tono valley to learn somethings about Japanese folklore.