Day 10, Aizu-Wakamatsu

As promised, today the rest of the tale of Aizu-Wakamatsu. When the battle against the emperor’s supporters was lost, a small group of approximately 20 samurai could flee to a mountain, Iimori-yama, at the edge of the city. This group was part of the Byakkotai, or White Tigers, and existed of 16 and 17 year old teenager samurai that had sworn loyalty to the leader of the Aizu. When they stood on the mountain they saw only fire and smoke at the place where the castle should be. Convinced that everything was lost, they decided to commit seppuku, or ritual suicide, with the entire group, rather than surrender to the enemy.

In reality, only the surroundings of the castle were burning, and it would still take weeks before the Aizu had finally been defeated. However, the tale of their courage and loyalty appealed greatly to the Japanese, and therefore a monument has been built on that spot. Among other things, you can find a museum there, and the graves of the 20 samurai. Furthermore there is a funny wooden tower containing Buddha statues, in which you can walk to the top and then down again, without ever walking in the same spot twice. Next to the graves, there are also two not-so-funny monuments. Both placed there in the 30’s, one is a huge pillar donated by Mussolini, and the other is a small marble monument donated by Nazi Germany. The story of self-sacrifice by the teenagers apparently appealed to them. By the way, Japanese tourists happily have their picture taken in front of the monuments, which makes you wonder whether they have any clue to their backgrounds.

After this, I visited an official ‘place of scenic beauty’, namely a garden which was constructed in the middle ages. The story goes that a local farmer got healed of some illness after drinking the water of a natural spring. Since then, it was often the location of the official retreat of the Aizu rulers. It has a beautiful lake in the middle, with a tea house on a small island, small waterfalls, and a lot of different types of vegetation (it is also used as a herbal garden). Such public gardens can be found everywhere in Japan (often at temples), even in the smallest village, and it is a shame that we do not have that in the Netherlands (or anywhere else in the west).

Now it was time for the main sight of Aizu-Wakamatsu, the Tsuruga-jo castle. As I wrote earlier, it had been destroyed at the end of the 19th century, except for the castle walls. Approximately 40 years ago however, they decided to reconstruct it and make it into a museum. It is funny that on the inside it is simply a modern concrete building, but on the outside looks like a real castle. Because of its color, it has been nicknamed the ‘Crane Castle’. See the photograph on the right. The photograph above, by the way, is of some autumn colours near the samurai monument.

Now there’s one thing that I haven’t mentioned yet, and that is sake. Among all those temples and samurai one might almost forget that Japan is also famous for its rice wine, sake. Sake is simply the word for liquor, and its character can also be found in the name of many Chinese restaurants in the world. I had never been to a sake brewery, and there happened to be one near the castle. The complete brewing process was explained and all kinds of old tools were shown. Simply put, it works as follows: You take rice, ‘polish’ it, and then rinse it. Next you steam it, add moulds, let it mould for a while, then add water and yeast, and leave it alone for a while. Then add water, steamed rice, and molded rice several times, and press the final mass. Filter and pasteurise the liquid that comes from this, and you have sake. I have also tasted it myself; it is quite nice, and a less strong than I had expected (only 19% alcohol).

Tomorrow to Nikko! This means ‘sunshine’, so let’s hope it lives up to its name…