Inuyama Castle

[Manfred M]

There are only 12 historic castles left in Japan. All the rest are considered modern reproductions that used modern building materials like re-enforced concrete in place of traditional building materials and construction methods. Inuyama Castle is one of the twelve. It is located in Inuyama City, which is in Aichi Prefecture.

This is a bit of a photo essay, documenting my visit to the castle and the castle grounds. The ground include a shrine.

1. The way to the shrine lit marked by lanterns and torii gates.




2. A set of stairs lead to the shrine and castle entrance






3. This basin with bamboo dippers is where worshipers that stop at the shrine cleanse their hand and sometimes their mouths. They are washed out and returned after someone drinks the sacred water out of them.





4. Entrance Torii - these classic entrance gates lead up towards the castle.





5. Trees partially obscure the rock and wooden castle keep.





6. Closeup of the Keep - I decided to show this in B&W because the sky was overcast and rather uninteresting. I find that the B&W version works better than the colour one.





7. Castle interior - the interior is actually quite sparse and it would only be furnished at times of war / when it was under siege.





8. A view of the city from the top of the Keep. It shows a dam on the Kiso River.

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful series and narrative!

[John 2]

That's a great series and narrative Manfred. Evokes a feeling of the multi-tiered culture of the time as well as the architectural style.

[Shadowman]

Very dramatic series, nicely captured.

[Donald]

Wonderful story-board. Not a weak image amongst them.

[Mike Buckley]

I keep coming back to the fourth image because of its rich colors, geometric pattern and lines that lead to the rear. Very attractive! If only a geisha had walked by at the end of the walkway.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series, thanks for sharing

[IzzieK]

Some of your beautiful shots here Manfred...thank you for taking us with you on this journey...