Himeji: Kokoen & the History Museum

This has been one of the busiest weeks I've had in a while. I think I've been home a total of 10 minutes in the last three days!
During the daytime, however... slightly different story. I have some new notebooks and marking to do, but finals have officially commenced, which means a little more leniency and freetime for moi. I also still need to get some grad school applications out and should be studying Japanese more, but I have to allow myself at least some opps to take advantage of being in Japan while I can afford the extra time during tests. Yesterday was one of those "let's exploring Japan" days....
I don't go to Himeji often and while it's amazing to have "Japan's most famous castle" within biking (probably running) distance from where I spend most of my week, you really do start to take it for granted after a while. I am still awed by many things in this country, but I saw the castle enough times last year to need a break from it for a while. Since I was going to be in town anyways (birthday dinner), though, I decided to use my free afternoon to explore some of the aspects of the castle and area that I never made it to before, starting with Koko'en, the Japanese garden on the side of the castle.
When I got to town, I walked down the arcade (covered mall - now all decorated for Christmas!!) and did a little shopping and snooping around before getting to the castle. Himeji, which is known for it's spiral-designed foundations and outer rings, has a large courtyard outside the main entrance. It's covered with sakura (cherry blossoms) in the spring, but I really wanted to check out the fall colors before they were gone. The castle itself was pretty, but the trees surrounding the moat where particularly stunning, with firey-red tones and canary yellow hues. Compared to the garden, though... that was nothing.
KOKO'EN Garden @-----**----
I have always loved Japanese gardens (it's my favorite place at the Minnesota Arboretum, actually) so I think it's kind of strange I've never been to the one in Himeji. I've been to the castle a lot, so I've been there on tourist business more than once, but I guess it just never came up. I should also mention I've been to big Japanese gardens in Japan (the big one next to Okayama castle is especially nice), but I had no idea that the Himeji location was even better... possibly one of the best around. Koko'en (the name of the garden) is situated next to the Himeji Castle grounds, on the site of old Samurai houses. It consists of 9 smaller gardens, which are separated by walls, includes several carp ponds and waterfalls, and it's possible to do an authentic Japanese tea ceremony (only ￥500 with cake! I've done it before or I would've jumped at the chance). I presume the tea comes from the 茶の庭 (tea garden)... but don't quote me on that.
The garden was beautiful, and being a Thursday afternoon, visitors were sparse and I could enjoy a stroll past the red leaves in peace. It would be a great place to meditate, actually, and I enjoyed the alone time, but I could see this place crawling with camera-toting tourists during the summer and on weekends! The garden didn't close until 5, but I didn't want to stick around for it to get dark (which is basically at 5 these days), so I basically just walked around for a while, taking about an hour-and-a-half to enjoy the landscape before heading to my next stop, the Prefecture History Museum. The pics will speak for themselves if you check out the album...
In addition to the garden, I've been meaning to get to the History Museum and Himeji City Art Museum for a long time, but it's just never happened. I decided to seize the chance while I had it! Both buildings are located at the base of the castle (sort of on the back side), but the art museum is housed in old, brick army barracks (from WWII) and has been of particular interest. You can clearly see the whole building from the top of the castle and it's fascinatingly beautiful with the red bricks and manacured lawn. I've secretly wanted to go to scope out the architecture as much as the art inside (even when they had the Rodin exhibits), but - of course - the art museum was closed for the day. The walk around the moat from the garden to the buildings itself was a treat, but I was happy to discover I was contented with observing the old barracks from behind the iron fence on the way to the history museum. I might go sometime if they have any good exhibits come through (there's something about christian paintings right now), but otherwise, just getting a closer look is enough to satisfy for now... so I kept going to the history museum.
Hyogo Prefecture History Museum
I've heard a lot about this museum before, but was particularly excited about it last year upon hearing rumors that you can try on kimono and samurai gear... and for free. Luckily, my opinions and have changed a bit since aquiring two of my own yukata (summer kimono) and trying on different kimono via various situations or I may have been crushed when I arrived just as the changing stations closed. The museum itself was more than I expected, however. The admission was a bit steep compared to other museums here (￥８００ or about $7.50), but the building was just remodeled in April and looked beautiful!
The place was very hands-on, had large child-oriented sections, and housed a library for further research if you're into history. I also visited the special exhibit, which old postcard pictures of Kobe and which featured information about cranes (the symbol of Himeji; also known as the White Crane Castle) and a famous Japanese explorer from the 1970s. The postcards were cool to see, though. Kobe looked really different before the earthquake in 1995... it's literally a new place!
Overall, this museum is going to go up there with some of my favorites but I think it was in large part better because it focused on the area I live in more than the caliber of the exibits. They did have a lot of historical information about Japan in general, but the focus on our local history (conflict between the Gengi & Heike clans, for example), festivals and places I have been and actually know about was pretty cool. It was a lot similar to the Archeology Museum in Harimacho, I guess (haha... even the dressing up!). And while you know I live in Akashi City (essentially a suburb if Kobe), you probably notice I talk more about Harimacho (Harima Town) on this thing than I do about Akashi (haha, note the previous sentence). That's because I basically live on the border of Akashi and the Harima region, which happens to be a historical hub. Hyogo Prefecture has 11 "National Treasure" buildings, which (as I learned yesterday) ranks it 4th in Japan. All of those buildings were built in the old Harima Province (five of the buildings pertaining to the castle). That's pretty cool.
Hmm, let's see. Other interesting things about the museum were seeing old (I mean centuries old) toys from Japan and learning more about this area during the war. It was startling to see pictures of downtown Himeji in rubble after air raids and think about the obachan and ojisan (basically old people) I know actually being part of that. What's more, many of the pictures had a view of the castle, perfectly preserved in the background, exactly as you see it today. The American aircraft that bombed the area didn't touch the castle because they used it as a landmark to navigate to other areas; good for preserving history, but sad to think about all the other destruction. I guess war is an ugly thing and the fact that I am sitting in Harima writing is a happy story. But seriously... check out the album when I post it. It's really interesting.
I finished at the museum as it closed, being ushered around at the end by a bored guard, about my age, who wanted to practice her English. I took one last lap around the castle (stopping at the site of the old wooden gate & bridge at the back, where the samurai would tie their horses, for the first time) and went to meet my friend for the dinner... the reason I had come to town.
Dinner was good and I discovered that I love pork & kimuchi together (new izakayai option), but we called it an earlier night after grabbing a drink. Silly me fell asleep on the train and ended up almost spending the night in Kobe because of the mistake afterwards, too, (took me like 2 hours to get back once I backtracked and caught last train), but at least I can say I slept well once I get home. Fun times!