Southern Kyushu: Kumamoto Castle
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August 27, 2015 - Southern Kyushu: Kumamoto Castle
I visited the prefectures of Kagoshima, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki in a week-long vacation to Southern Kyushu. From Kagoshima Prefecture's Kirishima Onsen area, we took a day to drive to Takachiho in Miyazaki, detouring slightly into Kumamoto Prefecture to visit the famous Kumamoto Castle (....and to buy my postcards.)
We parked at a paid parking lot then walked to a post office to buy my postcards, then headed back to the castle, passing by this cute Inari Shrine on the way. Inari Shrines are my absolute favorite in Japan; I was definitely cursing myself for forgetting my calligraphy book this trip, especially with how many shrines and temples we ended up visiting! Grrrrr.
From here we entered one of the numerous gates around the castle complex and made our way up to the castle proper.
It was a hot day, so it was a bit of a sweaty climb, but we made it to the top! Entering the castle from here, it was slightly air-conditioned, which was very nice.
Inside the castle is a museum of various objects. I took a peak around, but didn't stay long in each area, instead heading right up to the top where I knew there'd be a nice breeze and view!
After basking in the breeze a bit and taking photos, we headed back down and out to visit the Honmaru Goten reconstruction.
There wasn't a whole lot of English, but most things were pretty self-explanitory.
I liked this view the best!
After finishing up around the castle, we headed to Sakuranobaba Josaien, a complex of restaurants and souvenir shops right next to the castle near the Hazekata gate.
We found a horse meat restaurant and had some great traditional style food, including karashi renkon, a lotus root filled with a paste of spicy mustard and miso. It was good, but it will clear your sinuses if you're not careful! Then again, if you've got a cold this is the food I most recommend for you!
After this, we continued the drive past Mt. Aso (which we unfortunately couldn't visit) to Takachiho in Miyazaki Prefecture.
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