Hirosaki Castle autumn

Hirosaki Castle Tower

Last Friday was our 22nd wedding anniversary. To celebrate, John took the day off, and we drove over to Hirosaki to visit the Chrysanthemum Festival. Hirosaki is famous for its spring cherry blossoms, but I did not realize how beautiful it would be when dressed in autumnal glory.

Ushitora Turret

We found parking very near the castle in a shopping center.


This was good luck. Last spring, we went on a Sunday to see the cherry blossoms, and we spent the first hour in the city just looking for parking.

Honmaru

But a weekday in autumn is not so busy, thankfully. Sometimes it felt like we were the only visitors.

Takaoka-Bashi Bridge

2011 is the 400th anniversary of the building of the castle, which, according to the English visitor's brochure, was "completed in 1611. From that time, the Lord of Tsugaru and his successors lived in Hirosaki Castle, which remained the center of governance of the region by the Tsugaru feudal clan for around 260 years until the abolition of the feudal clan system.


The castle was opened to the public as Hirosaki Park in 1895 and designated as a Historical Site in 1952." The citizens of Hirosaki donated most of the cherry trees in the park, beginning in the early 20th century. Today, there are more than 2,600 cherry trees of different varieties, including Japan's oldest Somei Yoshino cherry blossom tree, planted in 1882.

Inner East Gate, with oldest Sonmei Yoshino cherry tree in foreground

In celebration of the anniversary, there were references to 400 and the celebration logo in many places in the park, including this apple display in the Arboretum.


Put off by the extra entry fee, we had never been into the Hirosaki Castle Arboretum before.


This time, the flower and fruit displays made it worth the entry price.






















Even the playground was decorated with floral displays.



Between us, John and I took an insane number of photos.

In the Central Moat

Tatsumi Turret

Just ask Katie. I'm certain that was her favorite part of the whole adventure. ; )


She's a good sport, though.


On our first (springtime) visit to Hirosaki, we took a photo of Matthew that was later published in the National Catholic Register's "Baby Mugs" column.

He's too old for the column now, but I think he's just as cute.


And his little sister isn't so bad either.


We climbed up into the castle tower


and enjoyed the view of the Gejo-Bashi Bridge from above.


We took even more photos,

Approaching Takaoka-Bashi Bridge

Central Moat

It was at about this point that I stopped to get a shot of this fellow.

Great blue heron in the Inner Moat
(viewed from the Kita-no Kuruwa area)

It took a few minutes. I was dissatisfied with the photos and wishing I had brought my SLR along. So I gave up and turned around to join the family.

Who had disappeared.

Butokuden Rest House/Kita-no-Kuruwa

Thinking that they were just up ahead, I continued on, taking more photos along the way.


Until I realized that I was not going to find them easily. Thank goodness for cell phones. :) After a quick call, Katie told me where they were, and I headed out toward the festival food booths. I went the long way, as it turned out, but that gave me the chance to take more photos.





No visit to a Japanese festival is complete without yakitori and yakisoba. And that is where I found my family, who had already purchased our lunch and were waiting and wondering where in the world I had gotten to.

The outer path in the Sannomaru area, walking toward the Gardening Information Center

We had to hurry home for First Friday Mass and Adoration. And we almost missed them because we couldn't find our way out of Hirosaki. Typical of most Riordon adventures in Japan, we followed the directions to Hirosaki that I got from ITT (the travel office on base) and arrived at our destination with no problem, but there aren't any directions telling how to get back out of the city. And, while you would think that it is easy to simply re-trace your steps, if you are following signs into the city and there are no signs going out of the city that have the route number that you need...well...you get the picture.

My favorite photo of the day--taken while I was "lost"

Somehow, despite an outdated road atlas and maps with too little detail, John (I can take no credit here. I will not say more.) managed to find Route 7 and get on it going toward Aomori. From which, we re-located the toll road and made it back to Misawa too late to stop home, change, and shower, but with several minutes to spare before Mass. To the unknowing observer, it simply appeared that the Riordons had arrived early and a bit underdressed. We'll let that impression remain until one of our fellow-parishioners reads the blog. : )

Sugi-no-Ohashi Bridge

Wishing you were here.