Takayama, more pics

Mostly from the old administration building 

Takayama, Judy's camera

Coffee break 

and a rickshaw 

and temple bits

Takayama

Our "Rough Guide" described Takayama as a "must see" destination, and rightly so in our opinion.  It has one of the largest areas of old houses untouched by war, fire or earthquake.  

Plus a great set of temples 

and a unique old regional administration building, including a huge rice store as the peasants paid their taxes in rice at 30%!

But needless to say, lots of tourists as well, most of them Japanese.  Must be very crowded here in the summer and at weekends.

More photos in other posts.

The train journey here passed through quite mountainous terrain, and we'll be going back through it again tomorrow on our way to our final stop, Matsumoto.

Nara 3, Judy's camera

There were deer everywhere.

And a fierce temple guardian.

And peaceful gardens.

Nara 2, Todai-ji

The temple building is massive and all wood.  

The Buddha statue is also huge, apparently the largest bronze statue in Japan and the largest bronze Buddha in the world.  The original has had a rough time with earthquakes and fires so there are lots of replacement bits, but who cares.

Walking around, the temple dwarfs the people in it.

It was a great way to finish the day.

There are more pics from Judy's camera.

Nara 1

People (lots of them!) come to Nara for the 8th century temples and statues. Most of the temples have had to be rebuilt a few times as, being wooden, they burn well.  But the replacements are still great

and much of the statuary is original although photos are not allowed.  

We happened to be here on the last day of the Nara Food Festival, and it was packed.

We ate our picnic in some lovely gardens

before heading for the highlight, Todai-ji, reputedly the largest wooden building in the world, which houses a huge Buddha statue.  Even the gatehouse was huge.

More pics and comments in the next post.

Matsue...

...has one of the twelve original castles left in Japan, although it was extensively restored in the 1950's.  Because it's a wooden building, they effectively took it apart, threw away the bad bits and rebuilt in the traditional way.  Anyway, at five stories high

and all wood

it's very impressive, as lots of Japanese tourists who were there today could tell you.  Hardly any foreigners here, though.

It is also the adopted home of Lafcadio Hearn, an Anglo-Irish-Greek who came here in the 1890's as a journalist but decided to teach English instead.  He wrote several books about Japan and is allegedly much revered by the Japanese.  Tourism here revolves around him a lot.

We ambled past several temples and shrines including one full of foxes, 

mostly alongside canals as Matsue is on the coast and at the mouth of two rivers.  All very lovely.

Have decided to miss Kyoto, which was the capital before Tokyo, and go instead to Nara, the capital before Kyoto!

Kibij and Kurashiki pics 1

From C's camera 

Kibiji and Kurashiki pics 2

From Judy's camera 

Okayama and around

It's hard work being a tourist, after three days here we're exhausted!  We came here for more gardens and a couple of small towns, so much good stuff that we've had to do several posts of photos.

We arrived in sunshine and went straight to see the Korakuen gardens, delightful.

This is the much-restored castle just across the river.  Other pics in another post.

Next day by train to the small mountain town of Takahashi where there are Samurai mansions, temples and a lovely old merchants' area.  Had a great lunch, this set meal was about £6.  More pics in yet another post.

We ate in the "Chateau" restaurant - there's a lot of false French things here, bakeries called "Boulangerie", shops called "Vie de France", etc - very strange and not a word of French spoken!

Today we hired two bikes 

and did the 18km Kibiji cycle route past temples, burial mounds and lots of rice.  Took us four hours with all the stops.  Then a quick visit to very touristy - but you can see why - Kurashiki.

More photos in other posts.  Moving on again tomorrow.  It's all go!!!

Takahashi

From Judy's camera 

Takahashi pics

From C's camera 

Korakuen gardens Okayama 2

From Judy's camera