Nagoya-Jou

July 22- Nagoya-Jou

It was upon my third attempt to visit Nagoya castle that I actually managed to enter. I had been distracted by other things, like the Sumo tournament that was taking place next door. Prior to entering the castle, I walked around the perimeter of castle, beyond the moat. Many people were walking their dogs at the time. I was surprised to find some homeless people who appeared to be living there by the small tarp that was pitched and the belongings around the area, as well as several cats that appeared to be living there. I could not imagine living outdoor in the tarp in that overwhelming heat and humidity. Not even a fan to cool off. It seemed inhumane.


Perimeters of the castle featured an area where homeless men were camped with cats. These koi and the swans were in abundance around the moat. The appeared accustomed to being fed as you can see they are not camera shy.













Many lovely views from the castle along the walkway. I think I spent more time around the outskirts of the castle, than I did within the castle walls.

I had to take a photo of this beautiful household shrine. It was in a public area so perhaps it does not belong to a household, but I will not know at this point. And I could not resist this photo of the public toilet outside of the castle walls. I did not venture inside, but I did appreciate the architect. I also found an interesting sign that featured the local birds in the area. Very informative, especially if one reads Japanese.

The castle had been destroyed during the war, so there is little that is original. Still it was interesting to walk about and take in the traditional scenes that were depicted throughout. Some of the gates and small towers are original. There are gold dolphins that are perched atop the castle, that are symbolic of the castle. However, they don’t appear very dolphin like to me.

Golden Dolphin

Outside of the castle but still within the walls, I found an old tea house that featured many paper doll scenes that would take place around the castle centuries ago. They were fantastic and I had to take a bunch of pictures, even though there was glass separating and reflecting, creating a problem taking pictures. Some festival scenes and processional scenes around the court as well as some wonderful music making scenes, that I absolutely loved and wanted for myself. I think I enjoyed this tea house more than the castle.