Kanazawa - racing the typhoon

When I arrived in Kanazawa in the evening the first thing I did was to go and book my train ticket to Kyoto for late the next day. Or at least I tried to, because all of the trains after 1:30 had been cancelled due to a forecast typhoon. This put a real cramp on my time in Kanazawa but on the plus side I discovered that Kenroku-en garden, which was one of the main reasons for me going there, was open that night and also had free entry for the next few days.

So instead of going straight to bed when I got to my hotel I walked to the gardens and joined the slow-moving mass of humanity that had for some reason had the same idea.

It really was very pretty all lit up at night.These two shots are of the side of Kanazawa castle and an advertisement that definitely stood out.

The next day I had enough time to go and see a temple that I'd really wanted to see and get to the gardens again to have a proper look in the daytime.

Myoryuji Temple is also commonly known as Ninjadera, or "Ninja Temple". Sadly It's not called this because ninjas actually lived there, but the real reason is just as good. The builders of the temple had constructed an impressive array of traps, secret passages and tricks to thwart any invaders, some of which were rather clever.

Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take photos inside the temple itself, but the things inside included a "trick" offertory box which could be a pit trap, another pit trap at the bottom of a short set of stairs, a place down behind some stairs where they could see the invaders coming down and spear them in the legs without being seen themselves, and secret stairways leading to other parts of the temple

They'd even created an optical illusion in one place: part of the top floor's ceiling appeared higher than it actually was, meaning that an enemy might well misjudge how much room they had to swing their weapon, unlike the defenders.

Kenroku-en and the surrounding area were beautiful during the day as well, with the cherry blossoms in Kanazawa being well and truly in full bloom.

Last but not least is the clock they had next to the station. It was cool because the "display" was actually made up of tiny water spouts, and it didn't just show the time.

This is one part of the station. I'm guessing it was inspired by Torii gates but I'm not sure what else...

And then it was Thunderbirds are go to Kyoto! (Sorry, I had to: one of the types of Shinkansen is the Thunderbird.)

Takayama

Next it was off to Takayama, a place which has retained some of the more traditional buildings. The countryside on the way there was nice too:

I'd booked a traditional Japanese ryokan (inn) instead of a normal hotel for an experience, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. My hosts were lovely and my room was really pretty, as was the rest of the place.

The lady who was looking after me told me to do lots of walking because she was going to make me a big dinner, and she wasn't kidding!

The food was delicious but it was so nicely presented it almost seemed a shame to eat it.

After dinner it was time for bed, which was pulled out and made up for me:

Breakfast was delicious again, and well and truly filled me up for a good day's walking around the town. It included a sweetish vegetable mix cooked on a large leaf, which was a neat little touch.

Takayama really is a pretty town, with a river running through the center of it.

Here's one for all the cat lovers - there was only of these and no explanation of what it was all about, but it was very cool/cute:

The town has a couple of morning markets, with this one arranged along a narrow street along the riverside. There were tent stalls as well as established shops selling food, souvenirs and crafts of various sorts.

At one point a Japanese lady who turned out to be a tour guide asked me to take her photo for her. She'd just gotten and was wearing her first ever kimono and was excited about it. This was a good chance to get my photo taken as well.

The town has an older and a more modern section, which is near the train station. The old shop fronts and little museums were really something to look at.

There's also a very large park that goes up into the hills, which was nice to walk through:

There was also a small picnic area, complete with this warrior statue:

After that it was quick trip to an area in the old town which has some of the many temples and shrines that are dotted about the town (the first is one from earlier).

Takayama holds a Spring and an Autumn festival, which include some incredibly ornate floats. Seeing these out on the streets'd be really something.

Takayama was a place with real atmosphere, and I'd recommend it to anyone. Next stop, Kanazawa!