A couple of more days in Kyushu

When we arrived in Kumamoto on the Shinkansen (on time, naturally), we were a bit dismayed to see the weather had taken a turn for the worse - grey skies and rain expected instead of the generally present sunshine we'd gotten used to over the last few days. Our original plan had been to rent a car in Kumamoto upon arrival, and head to Aso-san (a volcano in the middle of Kyushu) and Kurokawa Onsen (where we were spending the night) as soon as possible. But bearing in mind the weather, we decided to spend the morning visiting Kumamoto instead, and head straight to Kurokawa Onsen (and visit Aso-san the following day instead).

After getting our rental car sorted out, we jumped on the tramway and made our way to the main attraction of Kumamoto - the castle. Kumamoto-jo, as it is known in Japanese, is considered one of the three most beautiful castles in Japan (together with Himeji-jo, which we visited on our last trip to Japan) - and it is indeed a rather stunning castle! The castle dates back to the 15th century, but was badly damaged during the Satsuma revolt in 1877. The castle keep was almost completely rebuilt in 1960, in concrete (although the original wooden beams were kept - so it looks pretty authentic from the outside). The impressive castle walls, and 13 other structures, remain in their original form. We spent a good couple of hours walking around the keep and the castle grounds, very impressed indeed.

The interior of the keep itself is not that interesting - most of the exhibition info is only in Japanese, but the views from the top are pretty impressive. The most interesting building is the reconstructed (using original construction methods) Honmaru Goten Palace (the original building was unfortunately completely destroyed) - this was the place where the Daimyo used to receive guests. The Uto turret (one of the original buildings that survived the events in 1877) was also pretty cool...

After a quick noodle lunch at the train station, we picked up our car, and headed towards Aso-san and Kurokawa Onsen. The weather was pretty miserable, so we stuck to our original plan and headed straight for Kurokawa Onsen (where we were planning to spend the night), making a brief stop at Aso Shrine. It is one of the most important shrines in Kyushu - the entrance gate is actually one of the three largest of its type in Japan! I (Mathilde was too put off by the rain to join me for the visit!) was rather impressive - but I am sure I would've appreciated it a bit more if the sun had been out ;-)

Our drive then took us up through some rather nice mountain scenery (again, I think we would've appreciated it more if it hadn't been p***ing down...), until we finally arrived at our Ryokan, located at Ota Onsen, near Kurokawa Onsen (Kurokawa Onsen is one of the most famous places in Japan for Onsen and Ryokan). It was quite appropriately called Silent Forest - here we were indeed in the middle of nature... This Ryokan, as opposed to the one we stayed at in Fukuoka, was a very classy institution indeed! Everything was spot of, from the welcome (we hardly had time to park our car before a guy was there with two umbrellas ready), the check-in, the quick tour of the Ryokan, leading to our room (where our luggage was naturally already waiting for us). Our room (or rather apartment), weas pretty much perfect as well - traditionally Japanese, very tastefully decorated. We had our own private little Onsen in our own little private garden. In short, the place was pretty much perfect!

We had quite little time to spend in our room before our dinner, which was early, as the custom seems to be in Japan. Unlike the other "high-class" Ryokans we'd stayed at (during our last trip to Japan), we had our dinner at a restaurant rather than in our room, which was pretty nice actually (added a bit to the atmosphere of the meal, to see the other people dressed in their yukatans taking in the food). And the meal itself then ? Well, I guess you have noticed I've been quite impressed with the food so far during our trip, and this meal was no doubt the culinary culmination so far. Everything was perfect. Ryokans typically serve Kaiseki cuisine (which is basically a multi-course meal composed of several small dishes - there are plenty of rules about how the meal should be prepared - I suggest you check wikipedia if you are interested in the details ;-), and it is indeed what we were treated to as well. I counted 16 different dishes in our menu (all in Japanese, naturally), and it was all absolutely perfect, as far as I'm concerned. What did we have ? Well, plenty of different fish, plenty of different meat dishes (including raw horse meat - a speciality of Kyushu), plenty of vedgetables. Food is art in Japan - and this meal was a true masterpiece! We probably spent two hours dining, and didn't feel bored for one second...

And nothing better after a tasty meal like that than a bit of Onsen... Sooo relaxing to just lie in the hot water tub, out in the cool evening air... We felt rather zen going to bed that night, I'll tell you that! I started the next day with a bit of onsen as well, and then it was time for the breakfast. Nothing much to say about the breakfast that hasn't been said already - to us it seemed like Kaiseki all over again - although a bit fewer dishes than we'd had for dinner. So pretty much the perfect way to start the day, then! We were quite regretful to check-out of our Ryokan and head towards Aso-san. I have to say that staying at a classy Ryokan like this is something that everybody should try if they come to Japan. It ain't cheap, that's for sure, I wouldn't pay this kind of money for accommodation under normal circumstances, but for me it's a truly wonderful experience, and one that gives a pretty good insight into the Japanese psyche and culture. But, like I said, it can be a bit costly...

We arrived at Aso-san quite early, happy to see the weather was quite dramatically improved from the day before. We drove through Aso town, and headed up to the Aso Volcano museum, a good starting point for hikes in the region. Aso-san, or Mount Aso, is one of the biggest volcanoes on earth - the caldera has a diameter of no less than 25 km. In the centre stand the active volcano peaks, amongst them Mount Nakadake. Mt Nakadake is the only currently active of the five peaks on Mt. Aso, as testified by the smoke coming out of its caldera. Unfortunately, seems that Mt Nakadake was a bit too active on this particular day - the ropeway leading up the caldera was closed... Due to the rather biting winds on Mt. Aso, we didn't feel really fancy a hike either, so we decided just to enjoy the peaks and the scenery from afar this time. A pity!

So we decided to head back to Kumamoto a bit earlier than planned - a good idea it turns out as the weather was pretty much perfect over there. Before making our way to the town centre, stopped at Suizen-ji Jōju-en, one of the most famous daimyo gardens in Japan (a type of garden created by Daimyos during the Edo-period). And indeed, as far as gardens are concerned, it certainly ranks among the prettiest ones I've seen. It's got everything: a nice pond in the middle, a nice little shrine, carps and some cranes. A photographer's dream, in short... There was also a cavalry archery competition on display, so my memory card filled up pretty quickly, I can tell you that...

We spend the rest of the day walking around Kumamoto, and doing a bit of shopping. We finished the day with a nice grilled meat dinner in a restaurant we picked pretty much by random, and then of course a nice little onsen bath for me at our hotel... (it seems that a lot of the hotels in Kyushu at least have their own onsens, a pretty nice feature!)

The next day, the plan was to take the Shinkansen to Kyoto, but we had a few hours to kill before that. So we decided to stroll around a bit more on the Kumamoto castle grounds, now that we could enjoy the place in the sunshine. We also had time to visit Hosokawa Gyobu-tei, which was the residence of the chief retainer of the Hosokawa Gyobu family. A most interesting place to visit, which shows how the samurais lived during the Edo-period. What we found quite interesting is that the interior is not that different to that of a Ryokan, for example. All very tasteful and elegant, and somehow doesn't look at all "old-fashioned" at least to my untrained western eyes ;-)

That brought, sadly, an end to our visit of Kyushu, as we jumped on the Kyoto-bound Shinkansen. Apart from the beautiful nature, the incredible cuisine, what left perhaps the strongest impression on us was the friendliness of the people, and the feeling of being "off the beaten trail" (very few foreign tourists to be seen here...).