We had our Toyoko Inn breakfast at 7:00 and then caught the 9:15 JR train from Matsuyama to Tadotsu.
We bought bento lunches in Matsuyama because there wouldn't be enough time between trains to do any food hunting.
I loved seeing these delicate little blue flowers on the train tracks.
Lunch on the train is always yummy!
I'm holding up a cherry blossom kamaboko (fish cake).
We arrived in Kochi at 1:40 and walked from the train to the Hotel Los Kochi.
Mom could walk but we wanted her to conserve her energy.
We dropped off our suitcase and backpacks at the hotel.
We then caught the streetcar to Kochijo (Kochi Castle).
We needed to make a transfer and weren't sure how to get it. We asked mom to ask the driver, but he was in a busy intersection and asked her to wait.
Perhaps the driver wasn't as friendly as our fellow passenger would have liked.
Whatever the case, this fellow leaned over and presented Mom with...
...this exquisite miniature stainless steel origami crane. We were astounded! You can see how tiny it is in the previous photo. Mom is holding it in her left hand.
Mr. Ishida gave us his business card. He is the president of the company that creates these works of art. He's also the chairman of this and head of that. We do know he made our day! We will always remember him.
We found Kochi Castle easily enough and were glad that the sun had come out for us.
Mom was excited to see this statue of Chiyo Yamanouchi who was the wise and beautiful wife of Kazutoyo Yamanouchi.
Mom says everybody (in Japan) knows the story of how she helped her husband rise from an ordinary samurai to governor of the province of Tosa.
She started it all by purchasing a million dollar horse with her dowry which her husband was able to give to Nobunaga Oda who was an important leader at the time.
I'd write more... but like all of the history that Mom starts telling me... it's so complex that it could go on and on and on...
Like I said before...
Our trip is nearing the end.
We're getting a little crazy.
Kochi Castle is beautiful!
We could see how windows were slits for arrows to be shot through. Below them are spears to make it difficult to climb over.
Remember... there were ninjas around.
We had to remove our shoes to enter the castle.
I thought this palanquin that nobles rode in didn't provide much leg room.
I'm feeling sorry for the guys who had to carry this for miles.
We met another guide who kindly offered to show us around and explain the hidden secrets of Kochi Castle.
Mom waited at the bottom while our guide took us for a quick tour to the top of the castle.
It's shocking how steep these stairs were! Remember, the Japanese were shorter back then. It must have been a challenge to climb these stairs.
It was a lovely visit and time to leave our last castle.
There was a large open air market that Art wanted to check out. He was looking for a very special something for his sister, Kay.
And by golly! He did find it! A chestnut peeler!
Ryoma Sakamoto and his wife, Oryo are extremely famous in Japan for helping to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. I'm stopping there.
It would take another 100 posts to explain the whole thing.
For now, it was just fun to stick my head out and be Oryo for a few seconds.
We caught a quick dinner at the shopping area. We had more sanuki udon noodles which my cousin, Norio had told us in Sendai that we must try while we were down south.
He was right! It was wonderful!
My coughing was easing a bit, maybe just by sheer willpower.
As you can see, the Hotel Los Kochi provides you with a yukata for sleeping.
Since it was more masculine, Art let me post this photo.
Tomorrow.... learning about Ryoma Sakamoto!
POSTSCRIPT: Happy Cinco de Mayo and Children's Day, everybody!
Thanks for giving permission to photo your photo, Art. I love it!
ReplyDeleteThe crane is beautiful and a fitting gift in the situation.
Kay, I think you are right that will power has power over coughs.
Sigh... I wish the willpower would work now to cure it. Thank goodness it subsided in Japan!
DeleteThe origami crane is lovely. I remember making 100 of these in paper once and then making them into a huge mobile to hang from the ceiling where my mother was organising an exhibition of Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). I do hope you can show us a picture of the chestnut peeler!
ReplyDeleteWhen people get married, everybody will help fold 1,000 cranes for good luck. I helped two friends fold them. When I got married I was so tired of folding them, I said to "forget it."
DeleteOops! Forgot to take a photo of the chestnut peeler and we've already sent it to Art's sister in California. I recall it looking something like a plier though.
Cute crane, and it was awesome to see it between your mom's fingers in that photo. Tiny creation! KC will be so thrilled to see it.
ReplyDeleteThat crane is wonderful! I am so enjoying "traveling" with you here. What a great trip.
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful post, I'm still just so taken with thecastles, it interests me so much I went to the library to find out more.Wow , Japanese history is very complicated, I will be reading these books for a good while!
ReplyDeleteThe crane was lovely, did he give that because he felt he wan't polite I wonder.?Wonderful photos, thanks Kay for sharing
You know... that streetcar driver wasn't really all that impolite or anything. We know he had to concentrate at that time. Mom says he overheard Mr. Ikeda talking to somebody else on the streetcar saying that he liked how we three were taking her around and caring for her. I think he just wanted to make mom happy, too.
DeleteAnd yes, Japanese history is so complicated, it's exhausting to try to learn about it. It's also very interesting though.
Such an interesting travelogue. I have enjoyed your trip too. Thanks for including your readers because I know it takes a lot of effort to travel and document it too. The lunch on the train looks wonderful and the origami is fascinating. Your notes makes me want to take a trip to Japan.
ReplyDeleteOkay, the spikes to keep the bad guys out of the castle are mean, but effective. But the castle door is huge! Kay, you are still too cheery to be the warrior's wife. But he'd be a happy warrior, as is Art! Is your Mom actually gaining energy during this trip? Thanks for sharing. DrumMajor
ReplyDeleteI don't know if she's gaining energy, but she recovered from her cold before I did and .... you're right! She did, as a matter of fact... now that I think back on it.
DeleteYou tell a good story, Kay. And you are looking like you are feeling better by this time. This was a very ambitious trip, but it seems everybody made it just fine and had a great time. I am enjoying it too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, DJan. You're right. It was pretty ambitious. Our friends and relatives were rather surprised to learn what we were planning to do and are following this blog to learn how we did it.
DeleteI have really enjoyed reading all of these post about your trip and I have especially loved seeing your mom's face with such a happy expression in all the pictures of her.
ReplyDeleteAnother train, another city, another castle. Wonderful! Like us, you pack all you can into your travel itinerary.
ReplyDeleteYou know what? Most of our trips are like this. Hmmmm... Actually, all our trips are like this.
DeleteWhat amazing places you found to explore. Wonderful to see you all having such a good time.
ReplyDeleteWonderful, wonderful photos. I loved the castle. The origami is truly amazing. What a gift. What a memory.
ReplyDeleteYour mom looks so happy and vibrant. I think the trip did her wonders (healthwise)...to relive her memories there. Thanks to Art who planned a fantastic trip. And to you who did an excellent job recording everything. Another photo book for your mom to cherish? That's one thing about reading your blog, Kay, you are a superwoman and you work so hard at making everything go right....it's hard to feel half way decent by comparison!
ReplyDeleteL. from W.
I'm working on the photo book now and it is such a HUUUUGE job (about 180 pages, I think). Art and I work on it together and you know what it can sometimes be like to have a two chefs in the kitchen.
DeleteDefinitely not a superwoman. Actually, it's Art who's the superman here. He had to plan and coordinate everything before and during the trip. He also had to stay healthy and energetic. I don't know how he managed to avoid getting my cold.
what a loong and exhausting trip but so interesting....
ReplyDeleteyour mom's amazing keeping up with everything, even I feel tired at all you are able to
ReplyDeletesee and do!
What's life without a chestnut peeler?
ReplyDeleteSo true. Too bad we don't have chestnut trees in Hawaii. We only had a horse chestnut (Buckeye?) tree in Chicago... and you can't eat those nuts. Just the squirrels, hoards of squirrels.
DeleteWe lived in Ohio for quite a while and the "mascot," such as it is, of the Ohio State University is the Buckeye. A botanist explained to me that one reason Ohio was noted for hogs in the 19th Century was that pigs were farmed by letting them loose to forage for themselves and the then ubiquitous Buckeyes were so plentiful that it enabled the hogs to fatten up. But it seems like a strange mascot to me. Nevertheless, my wife got her doctorate at Ohio State and loved it there, although she eventually wanted to return to home in Hawaii, where she was born. Oh yes, they sell roasted "human-edible" chestnuts on the street in New York City during the Winter. They are tasty but rather too rich for me. Two are my limit. Also, there's the Nat "King" Cole song, "Chestnuts Roasting on the Open Fire/ Jack Frost etc.) Okay, that's the sum total of my contribution on chestnuts. Must be that chestnuts are a Winter thing, so any plant that needs to die back or rest in Winter (like roses or tulip or Narcisuss bulbs) won't do well in Hawaii.Wait a minute, there's also the poem my father and uncle could recite, "Under the spreading Chestnut tree, the village smithy stands...."
DeleteChestnuts can't be richer than macadamia nuts, no? Well... Hank... You sure do know a lot about chestnuts! Hmmm... I wonder why they call them horse chestnuts in Illinois. Do horses eat them like the hogs do?
DeleteKochi reminds me of the old samurai movies in the local theaters before multiplexs.
ReplyDeleteRon, you would enjoy those Taiga dramas on Kiku TV.
DeleteLove these castles. I had to catch up today. I keep wondering how you transported the wheel chair from place to place. Dianne
ReplyDelete