Feeling so close
Separated only by time
Strolling with Samurai
近く気持ち
時間だけ分けた
侍と散歩する
Tour Yagyu!
柳生ざとの旅行
-As promised here is the tour of Yagyu Village (Yagyu zato). I toured Yagyu Zato in the summer of '08 with a group of close friends. It almost didn't happen. Originally the plan was to hike the 7 mile Yagyu Kaido (Yagyu Highway) that runs from Nara East to Yagyu. The path follows the ancient road to the village. Along the way are numerous historical sites, including the stone struck in half by Yagyu Muneyoshi while fighting a Tengu. The village is hidden in the mountains East of Nara. My Japanese friends are always impressed I know anything about it.
If you hadn't, make sure to visit Dave Lowry's article on Yagyu.
Though we didn't have time for the hike, we rode a bus into the hills and made the whirlwind tour. Our arrival back at the bus stop was just in time to snap a photo of the tree and climb on the bus.
Another interesting thing of note. During our trip we saw a group of Japanese Security Forces training in the mountains. Oddly enough it was my tour guide's first sighting of JSF too. Historic!
For my first post on Yagyu look at Defiance.
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What were they training for? Not military training I'm sure. Must have been disaster response training.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question. They were all wearing camoflauge but didn't have any weapons that I could see. We drove by them on in the bus so it was just a few fleeting glimpses. My hosts / tour guides thought it was pretty unusual.
ReplyDeleteI think you're probably right though. Maybe some search and rescue drills or something, or simply maneuvers.