Three castle towns in the Tohoku regions
Three castle towns in the Tohoku regions A castle town refers to a town centering the castle of a feudal lord. The nearest places of the lord’s residence are for samurai warriors, while the places far away from the lord’s residence are for merchants.Kakunodate in Akita still remains such traditional castle town. Old samurai mansions surrounded by black walls standing along the wide street and weeping cherry blossoms are icons of Kakunodate. Visitors could also feel something elegant similar to Kyoto. It is no wonder, because a lord of the Satake clan married a daughter of a noble court, who brought Kyoto culture with cherry blossom saplings. Since then the culture have developed and the cherry blossoms have grown. That’s why Kakunodate is called Kyoto in the Tohoku region.One of the existing old houses is open to the public as the museum related to the samurai warriors, in which visitors can wear a suit of armor and learn about Onoda Naotake, who was copied the illustration of the first edition of Kaitaishinsho translated into Japanese based on Anatomische Tabellen. The area was also the shooting sites for two Japanese films including “ The Twilight Samurai “. There is another famous cherry blossom viewing spot is at the banks of the Hinokinai River where beautiful scenery stretches two kilometers from the end of April to the early of May. Kaba zaiku craft is specialty of the town, which originally started as side jobs for low ranked samurai warriors. It is characterized by the black lustrous surface made of bark of wild cherry trees. The JR Resort Shirakami runs between Akita and Aomori prefectures. Passengers can enjoy landscape of the Sea of Japan, local food, and traditional music: “Tsugaru Shamisen”. It is a pleasant transportation heading for Hirosaki form Akita. The Hirosaki castle is one of major sightseeing spots, which is well known for beautiful scenery of cherry blossoms. It has three-storied castle tower that was reconstructed almost two hundred years later the original one was burned down due to the fire caused by the lighting in 1627. Why did it take so long to rebuild it? It was common that creating the tall castle tower was regarded as rebellion against the government, so appropriate reasons were needed. The long-cherished castle tower was completed in the end of the Edo period on the pretext of offense and defense for Russia. The castle has two different faces. If you see it from the back side, you would find it plain. The castle town included the temple town that had played an important role as a fortress in case of battles. Today, as many as thirty- three Zen temples stand both on a road, which is called “Zenringai”. In contrast to the traditional atmosphere, the city has many western style buildings that were constructed during from the end of the 19th to the early of the 20th under the Meiji government policy of modernization. During the time, many foreigners were invited to implement the policy. Americans brought apple industry to the area. Since then, apple become specialty of the city. Near the castle park, there is the “Neputa festival village” where visitors see the best festive float of the year or experience other local culture. Sendai is the former castle town of Date Masamune. There are many trees along the streets in the central city, and the Hirose river runs through the city, additionally Mt. Aoba rises in the city. The city boosts beautiful landscape. A loop line is convenient for touring the major spots. The Sendai castle named Aoba castle have no castle tower. Date Masamune didn’t intentionally create it to avoid being watched by Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Because a castle tower was a symbol of authority. There are lot of things to see except for the castle, for example, Matsushima where some 260 small islands are floating in the Matsushima bay, which became natural protective walls when the massive tsunami struck the areas in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Visitors can enjoy the scenery form sightseeing boats or elevated areas called “Matsushima Sidaikan”, or four beautiful viewing spots. They are named “soukan”, or spectacular view, “reikan”, or tranquil view, “ikann” or magnificent view, and “yuukan” or artistic view respectively. Matsushima is designated as one of the three beautiful scenery of Japan. There are temple and shrine that remain the atmosphere of the Momoyama culture. One is Zuiganji temple, the other is Oosakihachimangu. The former one is Date’s family temple and the latter one enshrines the deity of warrior, Hachiman, in which horseback archery and naked festival are held. One of the most famous crafts in Sendai is “Sendai tansu”, or chest of drawers, which were originally created for Date Masamune when the Sendai castle was completed. Decorations attached on the drawers are characteristic of the crafts. The restaurant named Shokeikaku, the former residence of Date family offers local food in a unique style called sendai tansu cuisine. Variety kinds of ingredients on small plates are stored in the drawers of the miniaturized chest. The castle towns are the best place for learning Japanese history, seeing historical sites, enjoying local food, and experiencing local culture.
