Area Around Kanazawa: Kiriko in Wajima, a Castle, a Temple

In Wajima, we went to their local matsuri festival. They carry these towering portable shinto shrines (kiriko), singing and chanting.

Each neighborhood or shrine had their own kiriko and it was a contest of sorts to see who could make the best one.

They used to carry them along the streets but now there are too many low hung power lines. They are pretty much restricted to a parking lot.

This area is at a cliff where a head priest was pushed over for being a boozing womanizer. I think the story has it that the monk that did it was jealous.

I thought this set of stairs looked just like the entrance to the amusement park in Spirited Away. Oink! Oink!

This is the site of an old samurai village.

They've rebuilt some of the village. Above is an example of what the street would've looked like.

Here's an aerial view of a model, showing what the entire place was like.

Here is the oldest, non-replica castle tower, in Japan.

This map shows the original layout of the castle. The tower is in the upper left hand area of the complex.

The tower's purpose was simply to keep an eye on the surrounding territory.

Access to the upper floors were by steep sets of staircases. This saved space and also prevented one's enemies from rushing up them. They seemed as steep and narrow as the stairs in Iwabe Castle.

Here's the entrance to Eihei-ji. It's the head temple of a temple here in Yokosuka that has Noriko's dad's family at rest.

On the grounds of Eihei-ji

Inside Eihei-ji

Inside Eihei-ji

So you can get an idea of how large this complex is, here's the map. The first picture was taken at the far left of this map.

Finally, at Haneda Airport, there were these cool little displays. It's some kind of paper mache mixed medium.