An early morning rise was necessary today to catch the 7:46 train from Hakuba to Matsumoto. We awoke to find a huge carpet of snow which had completely covered the roads, roofs, cars and trees in the thickest layer of snow we have seen since we arrived.
It was a delight to walk through the sprinkling, soft, powdery snow to Hakuba station.
The train was delayed about 14 minutes due to the heavy snowfall. We noticed that the train tracks were filled with snow.
We thought the train might have to travel slower due to the snow but we were wrong, it certainly zoomed along. Along the way to Shinano-Omachi we noticed the beauty of the overnight snowfall. Fields of snow, houses and trees all covered in snow were all before us.
We changed trains at Shinano-Omachi for the second part of our journey to Matsumoto.
We visited the Tourist office and picked up a Town walking map. We decided to visit the Timepiece Museum first but as hard as we tried we just could not find it, so we set off to the Castle.
On the way we stopped at the Daimyocho Otemon Ido well. We scooped some pure spring water and enjoyed it.
We reached the stunning Matsumoto Castle and a kind Japanese man offered to take our photo. We could tell he was very proud of the Castle.
The Matsumoto Castle was built in 1593-1594 and is Japan’s oldest existing castle.
Outside the castle we were greeted by a Samurai and a Japanese lady dressed in a kimono.
Inside the Castle we saw how the Samurai protected the Castle. Specially shaped rectangular holes were carved to allow the bows and arrows to be at the ready and square carved holes were used for muskets. We also saw where boulders could be dropped down should an intruder try to climb the walls of the castle.
We enjoyed lunch and a hot cup of creamy chocolate / tea at the Castle, it was -1 degree Celsius!
Our next stop was the Former Kaichi School. It was the oldest elementary school in Japan and was founded in 1873.
We learnt the name Kaichi means leading a virtuous life and cultivating wisdom. James and Jennifer enjoyed pretending to be students.
We thought the book work was neat.
It looked like the textbook pages were printed by rolling over a stencil.
We found some very old carvings decorating some doors. This Sankarado has a marvellous wave and dragon sculpture carving which is very special because it is the oldest in existence.
On the wall is the motto for school discipline and on display is the school flag.
We particularly liked this artwork of the top of the Kaichi School building.
We thought it was interesting that the school was used as an elementary school, junior high school, woman’s school, a technical college for teachers and a facility for social education. It was functional for 90 years until March 1963.
Our last stop for the day was the Takahashi Family residence. This is one of the oldest existing samurai residences in the Nagano prefecture.
After a fabulous day in Matsumoto, we returned home to Hakuba. We noticed the snow cover had crept much closer to Matsumoto indicating a there will be lots of snow at home.
We were right! The playground of snow in the train station car park was irresistible and had to be enjoyed. Needless to say we played all the way home.
We’ve been enjoying meiji chocolates on our travels around Japan and today we made the connection that Meiji is a period of time in Japanese history from c.1868 . Oishii!!