Day Eleven - Inuyama Sightseeing

Today was Sunday, and we had been looking forward to this day when we had the chance to meet up with Tony's friends from Language School in Malaga, Spain. Soichi and Izumi Mori live in Inuyama in Aichi Prefecture. Inuyama actually means 'Dog Mountain' but we're not sure where that idea came from. Inuyama is known for the 16th century Inuyama Castle which is a small but beautiful castle, one of Japan's oldest wooden ones. It has survived the turmoils of

wars and disasters over the years.
We took a train out of Nagoya and it only took about 30 minutes. Soichi and Izumi met us at the station and then we went by car to view the Kiso River and the Inuyama Castle from a distance.
The castle was founded by Gifu's historical hero, the grandfather of Oda Nobunaga, a powerful daimyo (feudal lord) of Japan who attempted to unify Japan. The castle was built in 1537.
There were seven floors and a procession of people climbing up the very high stairs - thick and steep. Lesley decided to give it a go despite wonky knees and fear of heights. It was particularly scary when the stairs ran out of ropeway to hang on to at the very top of each level. Lesley was using both hands to hang on, and made sure that Tony was just below - to catch her?
The view from the top, and all around the top which we circumnavigated, was excellent, but some nerves and holding of breaths as the railing was very low - built for Japanese back in the

Meiji Period.
At the foot of the castle was the Haritsuna Shrine which led us through to the Jokamachi district - a long street with olden day shops selling traditional Japanese foods. We saw lots of ramen and noodle shops, and fish and corn on sticks. We stopped for coffee and a chat - in Spanish, English and Japanese.
We also ventured into an olden day house and garden, with beautiful bamboo garden and tatami flooring in the house.
At their home, Izumi had prepared sushi rice cakes with pickled plums inside - her own home-made pickled plums. They were delicious.
We felt very privileged to be invited to share the tea ceremony with Soichi and Izumi in their tatami room, next to the dining room. They have been studying tea ceremony for many years now. Soichi completed the ritual of green tea making and we had beautiful little bean cakes with a moon and a rabbit on each. They gave us a gift of a lovely large tea-drinking bowl.