More Castle Cats and Kuroda Kanbei

I'm starting to recognize the cats that hang out around the castle. I always have an absolute blast photographing them! Some of the cats are friendlier than others, but there's no doubt that they're all strays. Well-fed strays, but still most definitely strays.

I'm starting to recognize these two as the very relaxed parents of several batches of kittens in the area. I can usually find them sunning in a few spots in the park outside the castle. They're friendly, but not desperately so; they'd much rather snuggle with each other, but they'll put up with a bit of petting with dignity.

This guy started twining these figure-eights around my legs, and was very chatty. I'm not sure if he just likes attention, or he is very used to getting fed by people. Unfortunately for him, I didn't have any cat food on me, but he still spent a good 15 minutes crawling all over my boots.

I've taken photos of this black kitten before! He really wanted to climb this tree, and soon drew quite an audience.

Some other kittens didn't want to be left out of the action, of course.

Soon, there were 3 cats in this tree, much to everyone's delight. There were cameras everywhere!

Soon enough though, the cats did manage to make their ways safely down to the ground, but not without everyone cheering them on after a few close calls!

Kuroda Kanbei

There's been a lot of news centered around Himeji lately, due to the NHK filming a drama based on one of the city's mascots: Kuroda Kanbei. This historical drama is called "Gunshi Kanbee," and it just started airing in Japan. Since some of it (I think) was filmed in Himeji, its been a very big deal! They've even built a temporary museum(?) showcasing some photos and props and whatnot next to the castle; I think it just opened this weekend, from the size of the crowds and all the performances nearby. I happened to wander by the museum in time to see some interesting demonstrations, apparently about Kuroda Kanbei.

This is the mascot-version of Kuroda Kanbei for the city of Himeji. You'll see him everywhere!

A still of the performers. The lighting is really bad on this, but it just started snowing, so what can you do?

I have absolutely no idea what was going on during this play/musical/performance. I just know they said the name Kuroda Kanbei a few times. Maybe he's supposed to be the one in black? The dancing was cool though, so I filmed some of it.

And this is an advertisement for "Gunshi Kanbee." I'm assuming that this is Kuroda Kanbei.

Comments

Autumn Leaves and Castle Cats

Here's a bunch of long overdue photos from the last two weeks! The autumn leaves have been absolutely stunning! The mountainsides are turning all sorts of colors, which makes them even more stunning than usual. I did my best to photograph the one that you can see from Shirasagi's garden, which is right outside of my apartment. The leaves are finally starting to fall from most of the trees these days, but the colors were beautiful while they lasted! Below are a bunch of photos of the bike paths next to the Himeji Castle Moat, which were surrounded by trees in stunning shades of red and gold. This is definitely the scenic route to get to downtown in Himeji! Unfortunately, I'm still not quite sure of all of the twists and turns through neighborhoods that it involves to get to the back entrance of this pathway, but once I'm on it I can orient myself via the castle. This area is always full of joggers, bikers, and... cats. Stray cats, for t

Typhoons, Sports Day, and Elementary Schools: One Week Condensed Into a Single Blog Post

It's been awhile since my last post, for which I apologize! Things got rather hectic after I made my last blog post, and it's really taken me until now to feel settled down--and to acquire some videos to share with you all! Let's start with a picture: the entrance to Hirohata Junior High School. I'll have more photos coming soon! First off, let's recap a bit of what happened last week. I wrote about how on Wednesday, I'd be having my first lesson. That was a lie. Instead, I had my first day where the weather was "bad enough" for even teachers to have to leave school early. We had something of a "super storm" that day, with a typhoon making landfall at the same time as a storm front was moving through the area--and rather like Hurricane Sandy, but on a (fortunately) smaller scale, a hybrid super-storm was born. Thankfully, this typhoon had downgraded to a tropical depression by the time it hit Himeji. The weather was still pheno

Scarecrows and Swordsmen Make for an Exciting Weekend!

This weekend I had two consecutive day trips! On Saturday, November 9th, I went to Aioi to watch a swordsmith make a katana and viewed the Scarecrow Festival; I also went on a bit of a hike, and visited an art museum! Aioi was about an hour away from Shirasagi by car. It was at a higher altitude, so it was a bit chilly in the morning. Once the sun came out, though, it got much more comfortable! The autumn leaves were absolutely stunning; there's nothing quite like seeing mountainsides dotted with colorful trees! The entrance to a main area of Aioi. The view from the window of the smithy. The swordsmith at work! He was a junior apprentice, which meant he had to do all the work himself, using this machine to pound the steel. Apparently the grand masters are allowed to have apprentices pound the steel manually for them. A pond outside the smithy! A watermill fed into it. An ivy-covered house! Starting a hike to view a shrine in the mountain behind

Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

Search This Blog