Nijō-jō

By my reckoning, the bus headed in the direction opposite Kyoto Station. As we rode along, I noticed how straight and regularly-spaced Kyoto's roads are. It reminded me of being back home: most districts I've seen in Japan have haphazardly-spaced streets making crazy five-way intersections and tiny back-alley roads. One benefit to such a wild layout is that, once you get the hang of it, you can navigate by appearances instead of by road names. I've gotten used to doing that, so I had a hard time getting my bearings in Kyoto.

I overhead a Canadian couple in front of me talking about where they'd been. They spoke highly of Nijō Castle, and mentioned that it was a few stops away from us. Intrigued, I hopped off there, and checked it out.

The construction of Nijō Castle was ordered by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601, and served as a residence for the Tokugawa shogunate. Pretty much all of the original internal architecture had been destroyed at one point or another, but the reconstruction was still pretty cool.

There were audio tours available, but I decided against it. This made me miss out on most if not all of the significance of the place, but I prefer walking around and thinking about everything in silence. Almost all the signs were in Japanese, except for the warnings.

The reconstructed rooms contained mannequins dressed in what I assume is appropriate attire for the period represented. This included musicians, messengers, geisha, and the shogun himself. My favorite part about the interior, though, was the nightingale floors. As a security measure to protect against ninja and other spies, the nails of the floorboards were driven such that walking on the boards caused the nail to press against a clamp, making a distinctive squeaking sound. Ninja defense, folks.

The castle grounds were beautiful. There were maples everywhere, along with ume and sakura, though they lose their distinctive blooms in the spring. A guy in one garden had a trained falcon flying around.

There were also tents with snacks, and a building with an exhibition of kimono. I hear that these things easily top US$10,000 new.

I strolled around for a bit, basking in the beautiful weather, before heading out to find my way back on foot.