Kakunodate is famous for its samurai houses and cherry trees. Interestingly, almost all of the samurai houses, dating back to 1620 the year Kakunodate was founded, are still owned by various families. Today there are 6 of the houses open to the public free of charge. Out of the six there are two of the samurai houses renown for their size and structures. The Aoyagi House and Ishiguro House. Both have multiple structures and artifacts on display. When we visited the Ishiguro House we were able to speak with the family that lives there now and we were shown some of the key features of the architecture, as well as were able to see the adjacent warehouse where rice was stored. Perhaps the feature I found to be the most unique was the subtle carving of turtles in the wood above the sliding doors into one of the rooms. The carving was designed so that the lantern light from the ground of the adjacent room would cast a shadow of the turtles on the walls creating a beautiful illumination and bringing the walls to life as the turtles seemed to move in the flickering of the candle light. It is such subtleness and quiet functionality of the samurai architecture that leave an impression on the viewer.
The samurai class of the era not only built incredibly ornate buildings , but also imported the beautiful cherry trees that line the river, border roads, and shelter houses, from Kyoto during the Edo period (1603-1868) and since then Kakunodate has been a famous location for cherry blossom viewing. I hope to return in the spring to view the vivid flowering trees. Below I have posted a picture of a view over Kakunodate from a hike we took to the top of a nearby hill as well as some of the samurai houses of the area.
We also visted a local museum, the Kakunodate Densyokan which featured Kabazaiku, or cherry bark crafts. Kabazaiku is an art form in which the artists polishes the bark of cherry trees and creates various objects such as chests, Douran (small case), Inrou (pill box), pipe containers, etc. The craft was first introduced to the area of Kakunodate over 200 years ago. It was a kind of hobby or side-job for local samurai and the craft has been passed down from generation to generation. The museum had many incredible pieces on display as well as an area where a local artist was working on some new pieces. Furthermore the following link has a great example and information about the art and if you'd like to see some pictures, learn about how the bark is acquired (the tree is not cut down, there is a special technique used in order to preserve the tree), as well as some interesting information on the topic! Kabaziku Information.
It was a delightful journey and we are grateful to have had Wantanabe San to guide us through the city.
In order to give an update on the past few weeks, below are some recent happenings. The first pictures are from a cycling adventure during one of the final days of Fall. I also recently met the Akita City Rotary Club for a night of bowling and Karaoke where I was able to find out that both my bowling and singing skills have much room for improvement. Nevertheless, we all had a fun night together.
