zags travels

November 15, 2005

Went to see Osaka-jo (castle), one of the castles in Japan that was erected in the middle of a city (not on top of a hill for its real purpose?). It is not an original building anymore, has become a concrete museum with modern elevator (although they say there was originally an elevated part of the castle). The bridge that leads to the castle, Gokurakubashi (Paradise Bridge), has also been rebuilt, from wooden to concrete.

Then in the afternoon I was off to Nagoya. Hashi-sensei and Midori-san took me to a big dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, where I ate much - I hadn't really had any meal earlier that day, so I could eat everything they served Starting that evening and during my stay with them, I got something I call "perbaikan gizi"--"nutrition fix"(?) because during my travel I don't really care if I eat healthful food. The most important thing for me is that I'm not hungry, and the food (AND the price) is acceptable to me.

November 16, 2005

Midori-san prepared good breakfast - soup, salad, toast. Then sensei drove us to Inuyama. On the way, we dropped by a surprising old shrine called Tagata Jinja (Tagata Shrine). Thise shrine is estimated to be at least 1500 years old. I saw sooooo many objects with phallic theme or representations! These objects have been traditionally loaned out to those individuals searching for spouses, needing diseases cured, or wishing for a child. When the desired result was produced, these objects were then returned to the shrine together with a new phallic symbol as a token of gratitude.

In Honen-sai festival, a big wooden phallus was paraded, carried by several poeple with a portable shrine. Then the phallus together with the portable shrine reside in the shrine as the principal object of worship. The size of the phallus has grown to nearly 2.5 meters long and weighing 280 kg, so it protrudes from both ends of the portable shrine.

From Tagata-jinja we went to the women's shrine, Oogata-jinja. But no, no objects representing women's reproduction 'device' there. As any other shrines, there is the main shrine, and a few subsidiary shrines. And there are tall trees, as where there is a shrine there should be tall trees from where the gods descend to earth.

Then we were off to Inuyama, a hill where there is a real, still original, castle called Inuyama-jo (Inuyama Castle). All the stone steps up to the castle is still original. And the castle is originally a wooden one.

There are 4 levels, and to get to each level we must climb a steep wooden stairs and reach the level with wooden floor. (I imagine samurai climbing the stone steps up the hill then still had to climb such steep steps inside the castle.) Sometimes the floor shrieked as we walked, and we could hear the floor of the upper level above our heads shrieked too when someone was walking up there.

From the top of the castle we could see a 360 degree view of the city below.

Then we drove back to Nagoya and visited the castle in the city, Nagoya Castle. Sensei the history professor told me that this castle was just like Osaka castle--it was not original anymore. Himeji-jo is still original, unfortunately I didn't see it. Hopefully on my next visit to Japan I'll see it. (But when it is, I don't know...)