Inuyama Things to Do

2 more images

Jo-an is highly renowned as one of the 3 BEST TEA CEREMONY HOUSES and was designated as a NATIONAL TREASURE in 1936..

In 1972, the building was resettled in this URAKU-EN garden which was named after ODA URAKU...

HISTORY

Jo-an tea ceremony house was built in 1618 by ODA URAKU, one of the great masters of Japanese tea ceremony..

After the OSAKA winter war, URAKUSAI gave up his samurai status and became a MONK, living in the SHODEIN-IN hall, inside KENNINJI TEMPLE in KYOTO

There he built JO-AN as a tea ceremony arbor..Jo-an, shoden-in and other buildings were relocated to INUYAMA in 1972, and named, URAKU-EN

Jo-an and connected SHODEN-IN SHOIN(a study) was a place of URAKU'S seclusion in his last years..


The fee is 1000yen but if you wish to drink tea, it will be another 500yen
open from 9am to 5pm

3 more images

This is the projection located on the South east corner, constructed for the purpose of offense and defense...

It commands a good view of the far scenery through the 2 wooden frame windows below...

The area is about 15square meters( or 8 tatamis)

During recent reconstruction work, turret corner was completely restored because 2 of them had been destroyed by the GREAT NOBI earthquake of 1891.

You are able to leave your name and adddress at the sign book available.

On the 2 floor you will find the ARMOR room This room is used to store armor and weaponry, on the shelves as you can see in the pic.......

Its place in the center of the room on the second floor..and .Its the largest room in the castle.....

At the moment are display pictures of castle from around Japan...

1 more image

When you climb the first few steps of the Inuyama castle, look to you right toward the mountains....and you will see a set of many buildings......

This is NARITA-SAN TEMPLE complex.....no!! not chiba. city ."naritasan".......but naritasan of inuyama....

In 1953, an offshoot of the principal Buddah Image of FUDOH-MYO-OH(from the head temple NARITA-san Shinshoji) was received and a graceful red painted main temple building was made to house it on this mountain...

many tourist and Buddhist worshippers visit the site year around..I was not able to make it there THIS time..:)

Monkeing around

The ferrys wheel you see in the picture, is part of MONKEY MUSEUM AND PARK,..

The japan monkey center has over 1,000 monkeys of 100 species from around the world...
The study of primates is one of the features of the museum and it ranked among the top in the world for primatological study..

The park next to it with the ferrys wheel . is a popular amusement park for both kids and adult

1 more image

From june 1st to september 30th each year, Cormorant fishing on the kiso river should not be missed.....

Its called Inuyama Ukai. Ukai is a kind of fishing. The fishermen train many cormorants and make them catch smelts that are attracted to the torch at the head of a small boat on the river. The fishermen dressed in traditional costumes skillfully manipulate the ropes ......

Cormorant fishing was originally begun by the feudal lord of INUYAMA to catch sweetfish(ayu) to present to the TOKUGAWA SHOGUNATE.......the tradition is over 340 years old in INUYAMA....:

INUYAMA town is noted for historical sites ,the center of the town was built by a warrior general, Nobuyasu Oda, in 1537.

The history of the town, however, goes back to the ancient `Kofun` period, when people built many gigantic mound-like tombs.

Road leading to the outside of the castle town were made curved and provided with a gate to protect the city from invasion...

4 more images

This is called KORAN(high rails) room, on the 4th and last floor...of the castle..

It has a great view from the round veranda....Seems to be used as the lookout stand or the conning tower in the age of wars..

This room had some very interesting designs.....The karahafu curved chinese shapes gables are located NORTH AND SOUTH...and the plover triangular shapes gables were located EAST AND WEST...

The room was said to be constructed by the lord NARUSE long after the first construction of the castle and that he extended them just as decoration from 1618-1687...They do provide a nice detail to such a plain room....

1 more image

The castle has 4 floors and many little rooms thru out ...the Jodan No MA,
This is the room inhabited by the lord NARUSE, its on the second floor.....

The next room on this same floor is the ISHI OTOSHI NO MA
(pic#2)This is called the STONE DROPPING DEVICE place...They dropped stones from here to avoid their invaders scaling the walls from the moat below..

The total area is about 7.7 square meters...( in japanese tatami scale is over 4 mats)

After all that climbing and viewing ,,:) you will finally get to the castle...but beside the castle the big fern tree you will see at one side is about 650 years old....and 24 meter tall before ....

Its been here since INUYAMA CASTLE was built...and it was as tall as the tower of the castle...

The fern tree as been a protector of the castle...during thunder storms the lighthing will hit the tree than the castle its also serve as a wind breaker... so the tree has been consider a "special tree" protecting the castle from natural disasters.....it finally wilted in 1965.....