Last weekend A and I visited Inuyama Castle, which is supposedly the oldest castle in Japan. It's all a bit debatable when it comes to 'oldest' since many were destroyed, moved, rebuilt, etc, but this one seems to have the claim on the oldest original castle tied up without much debate.The location of the castle is scenic; high on a cliff overlooking a river. The castle naturally wasn't built to be scenic, it was built for maximum visibility, and being difficult to approach. It may have been built in the 1400's, but it succeeds admirably at both to this day - The castle was always in view, but getting close for parking was next to impossible. We ended up tucking our car between the road and a sidewalk near a public toilet along the river, and walking up the hill to the castle.
I knew there was an entrance fee (500 yen) for the castle, but was suprised that so much of the castle grounds were fair game for browsing for free. A series of small shrines and gardens have grown up on the sides of the hill the castle stands on, and throughly exploring those on their own could kill your entire afternoon. We were on a mission however - the castle was closing in an hour and a half, and we had some site-seeing to do!
Stay tuned tomorrow for tales from the castle interior...
You tease!
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