We started off with a visit to the former residence of Takatori Koreyoshi (1850-1927). Mr Takatori was the director, manager and developer of a number of collieries in Japan. Judging by the size and quality of his house, he must have been extremely successful in his field!
Takatori House
Takatori House from another angle
We were shown around by our own tour guide, who spoke very good English. The house was absolutely beautiful and included its own Noh Theatre, a European sitting room (complete with grand piano and sofas), beautiful painted panels and carved trimmings and a beautiful tea ceremony room. The garden was also gorgeous and contained a number of statues and ornaments which were not of stone as we first thought, but were of Karatsu pottery. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting this house and felt that it was one of the most impressive buildings we’ve seen.
When we came out of the house, we strolled along the beach towards the castle.
John found a neko friend
To our great delight we came across an elevator which, for 100 yen, took us right up to the castle. The alternative was a HUGE number of steps. We strolled around the castle grounds but didn’t bother to go in as we’ve done our share of castles in Japan lately. This lovely castle is a reconstruction, having been originally built in 1602-1609. It was demolished in 1872 and reconstructed in 1966.
Bless that elevator!
Kate with Karawankun
[Warning: Language/culture lesson coming up. Please disregard if you wish.]
Karawankun is the mascot of Karatsu. The "Kara" part of this is from Karatsu. Dogs in Japan don't say "Woof Woof", they say "Wan Wan". The Japanese word for dog is "Inu", but sometimes they are affectionately known as "Wan-chan" or in this case "Wan-kun". 'Kun' is a form of address like 'san' (e.g. Yamada-san, meaning Mr/Ms/Mrs Yamada). 'Chan' is usually used for children or affectionately for family members (Grandma is usually 'Obaa-chan'). 'Kun' is usually used when addressing male children or teenagers, or by people of a senior status addressing those of a lower status. The 'u' sound in 'kun' is pronounced like the 'oo' in 'wool'. So put it together and what have you got? Kara-wan-kun.
Here endeth the lesson.
Next on the agenda was a stroll around the shopping streets including browsing through some pottery shops. We found a nice little pottery incense burner that we both liked, so there’s another thing to squish into the backpack. We had a lovely curry for lunch in a café in the railway station – with trains occasionally thundering over our heads!
Did we take a wrong turn??
The 'street directory' of the local area.
Most Japanese towns don't have street names.
This is how people find what they're looking for!
Jacobs Creek wine in Karatsu
After walking our legs off, we made it back to the hotel. While I sat reading on a bench outside, with the occasional little crab scurrying past my toes, John took his scooter for a final test run before we had to make a decision whether to stick to our original plan or to swap to Plan B which means catching a ferry from Kitakyushu rather than Beppu. Although the scooter ran better today than it did in yesterday’s bad weather, we’ve finally settled on Plan B. This will shorten the distance that we need to ride before going back to Osaka and will also give us one extra day in Osaka, which we’re both quite happy to have.
We also discovered the source of the occasional sound of taiko drumming that we've been hearing since we've been here. There's a clock across the road from the hotel which performs a little ritual every hour. The clock face and the panel next to it both drop down inside the structure to reveal a little Japanese drummer guy and a taiko (drum). The drummer turns towards the drum and does a bit of 'boom, boom, boom' and then they both return to their hiding places within the clock to have a litte kip before the next hour comes around.
The Taiko clock
We spent a bit of time before dinner sorting out bookings and cancellations to get Plan B happening and then strolled up to the shopping plaza to find some nice things to ching back at the hotel and some little treats for later.
Tomorrow we’re off to Fukuoka for a three night stay.
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