Shiga

Chihiro and I made a trip to Shiga a few weeks ago to see some friends of mine who have come to live in Japan for a while. They're teaching English for Nova, a nationwide corporation, and are very lucky they got stationed where they did - Shiga is a beautiful area and not far from major cities like Osaka and Kyoto. Like our last trip, we got cheap all-day tickets for around $30 and left around 5am to get to Shiga by 10. It's a great mode of transport if you don't need much sleep! Cat and Rhys met us at the station and after dropping our stuff off at their flat (much larger than mine, and with tatami mats too!) we headed off to Hikone near lake Biwa.

The museum at Hikone is the first I've been to with no signs forbidding photography, so we all happily snapped away!

The Hikone castle grounds were huge, and there was a fantastic view of the lake from the top. Outside the snack/souvenir shop stood one of the biggest tanuki statues I've seen, though this one seemed a bit savage with pointy little teeth and a blood-stained maw. Like all other tanuki statues though, he had enormous testes, so if he did go berserk it would be quite easy to kick him where it would hurt! On the way out, we walked past a moat with a large swan. After scattering some crumbs, a swarm of enormous carp emerged from the depths and started thrashing around. They were honestly the biggest carp I've ever seen, almost a metre long, and I think the swan began to get a little concerned.

For dinner Chihiro showed Cat how to cook a Japanese dish called oyakudon. We had a great night catching up and swapping stories about living in Japan. The next day we headed off to one of the three original ninja clan halls still in existance. It was a little touristy, but had plenty of ninja equipment on display and the building was full of trapdoors, rotating walls, hiding places, and escape tunnels. They also had a shuriken (ninja-star) throwing range where we could hone our skill at embedding pointy things in targets.

The ninja were actually much more concerned with using their smarts and technology rather than fighting or doing acrobatics. This is a flint-lock pistol disguised as a sheathed dagger, and several arrows that carried explosives. There was also equipment for preparing smokebombs, medicines, and other clever devices such as shoes for walking on water, tiny portable boats, and collapsable ladders. Essentially, they were the ancient Japanese MacGyvers.

As well as a rotating wall section, this photo shows a pull-out ladder to access the hidden level in between the main level and attic. Underneath the ladder is a red X which is a trap that leads a long way down into a dangerous pit. If you know where the secret tunnel is though, you can use it to escape from the hall if it is being attacked. The secret level allows you to access different parts of the hall, and also to attack intruders from above as they enter the front door.

While they were scholars to an extent, Ninjas did seem to use a hell of a lot of pointy things! Amazingly, the tetrahedral caltrops in the bottom right of the first picture are actually seeds from a tree rather than the man-made steel variety.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Chihiro and I really appreciated Cat and Rhys's hospitality, and we're looking forward to having them visit us in Shizuoka.