Sunday, 17th May - The Rain Goes On...

The day started at 6.30 coinciding with the announcements made via speakerphone in the part of town where I stayed. There was an announcement at 6.30 am, 7 am, 7.30 am and again at 8 am - this on a Sunday morning. It was still raining so I decided that I would not relocate, rather just look for some new rain gear, as the old cover was completely torn, and explore the town. I went to the local supaa first to get some food supplies and a replacement propane gas container. Back at tent I made some brunch and then go into town again, still raining. I went to see the very famous Matsumoto castle (picture left), a Japanese National Treasure (there are only four in the whole of Japan). I got there pretty quickly with a copy of the local map from a kombini. At the castle I found a free guided tour and had one guide and two of his apprentices all to myself. The guide spoke pretty good English and I took some pictures with them, too. Wikipedia says the following...

“The castle's origins go back to the Sengoku period. At that time Shimadachi Sadanaga of the Ogasawara clan built a fort on this site in 1504 which was originally called Fukashi Castle. In 1550 it came under the rule of the Takeda clan and then Tokugawa Ieyasu.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred Ieyasu to the Kantō region, he placed Ishikawa Norimasa in charge of Matsumoto. Norimasa and his son Yasunaga built the tower and other parts of the castle, including the three towers: the keep and the small tower in the northwest, both begun in 1590, and the Watari Tower; the residence; the drum gate; the black gate, the Tsukimi Yagura, the moat, the innermost bailey, the second bailey, the third bailey, and the sub-floors in the castle, much as they are today. They were also instrumental in laying out the castle town and its infrastructure. It is believed much of the castle was completed by 1593–94.
During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established the Matsumoto Domain, of which the Matsudaira, Mizuno and others were the daimyo.
For the next 280 years until the abolition of the feudal system in the Meiji Restoration, the castle was ruled by the 23 lords of Matsumoto representing six different daimyo families. In this period the stronghold was also known as Crow Castle (烏城 ,Karasu-jo?) because its black walls and roofs looked like spreading wings.”

After the castle I went to explore Matsumoto and to find an internet cafe. Not an easy task as everyone seemed to have a different or no opinion about internet cafes. After 1h I agve up trying to find one and decided to have some Udon soup in a little noodle bar instead. This was done with lots of professionalism and style and the chef was happy to make a soup just with noodle and vegetables.. something unusual as the local specialty is raw horse meat and some other interesting culinary extravagancies. Back at the tent I wrote diary and made another pot of Miso soup with veggies and tofu. Bedtime by 10 pm.