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!
