A few scudding clouds skip across the sky as dawn breaks in Matsuyama and we start our morning in a uniquely Japanese way with a bath. However, bathing in Japan is a ritual with closely followed rules. Although our hotel caters to western sensibilities with en-suite bathrooms, we follow the Japanese path as we walk to the segregated rooftop onsens wearing only yukatas, (Japanese dressing gowns), while carrying towels and flannels. Balancing naked on stools made for Japanese bums, we shampoo and lather alongside others without any embarrassment. Traditionalists then thoroughly rinse using bowlfuls of cold water, while we prefer to shower. And then the onsens – large communal baths of hot and cold water, both indoors and out, where we relax and enjoy the fabulous city views at the start of another day…
Our Japanese days always start with the hotel’s onsen, and after breakfast in Matsuyama we visited its most famous bathhouse…
This is the Dogo Onsen Honkan, a wooden public bathhouse dating from 1894 that is said to be the oldest in Japan. It was the favourite of emperors and celebrities. The interior of the Honkan is a maze of stairways, passages, and rooms, all of which bustle with bathers and staff. But, as in all onsens, no cameras are allowed. However, the Dogo Onsen is a big tourist draw, and nearby a group of mochi makers were entertaining the crowds by pounding rice to a traditional musical accompaniment…
There was also a superb school band performing in the onsen’s annex courtyard…
The Dogo Onsen is surrounded by touristy shops, one only selling and renting towels. There is even a towel museum in a nearby town. Another shop sells only chopsticks and chopstick holders…
The chopsticks came in handy for lunch, and then we headed to Matsuyama Castle in the warm afternoon sunshine…
The castle stands on a hilltop overlooking the city and the sea and must have been a most awe-inspiring sight when it was first built in the early 1600s…
It’s a steep climb to the battlements, fortunately made easier by a cable car and ski-lift, but there is actually little to see inside the castle…
Sadayuki, one of the samurai involved in building the castle in 1639, was responsible for the policy that completely closed Japan off from the rest of the world for 220 years from 1648 to 1868.
While the castle was never attacked in its 400-year existence, much of Matsuyama, including parts of the castle, was destroyed by American fire-bombing in July 1945 during World War II. While few of Matsuyama’s buildings survived, its postwar reconstruction led to some interesting features including several lengthy shopping streets that are completely sheltered from the elements…
With our Matsuyama day over we started the next with a morning onsen before catching the 300 km an hour Nozomi shinkansen to visit the granddaddy of Japanese castles at Himeji.
This featured blog entry was written by Hawkson from the blog Blissful Adventures.
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