Inakadate village, Hirosaki and Aomori railway stations

As I wrote in the previous post, after visiting Saishoin temple in Hirosaki city on 18th July, hubby and I went to a village named Inakadate, which is located about ten kilometers away from Hirosaki city. We went by our car and it took us about ten minutes to reach the village. We went to the village to see the dazzling display of rice field artwork.

Inakadate rice field artwork
Inakadate village is located in Minamitsugaru district of Aomori prefecture. The tradition of rice field artwork (tanbo art in Japanese) began in 1993. Now the village has a well earned reputation for its rice field artistry and every year more than 15,000 visitors travel to see the creations. Huge displays of rice field artwork are created by farmers using four differently colored rice plant varieties and arranging the plants in precise and strategic manner in the paddy fields. Rice field art was started as a local revitalization project in 1993. In the first nine years, the farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year. But their ideas grew more complicated, and in 2005, enormous rice field artwork was created. A year later, the careful planning went hi-tech and organizers used computers to precisely plot the planting of differently colored rice varieties.

Each year in late May, hundreds of volunteers and villagers plant four different varieties of rice in a pair of paddy fields adjacent to the village office. The farmers create the artwork by planting local green-leafed Tsugaru roman rice variety along with greenish-white leafed rice, and purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice to create the colored patterns. The artwork cover 15,000 square meters of rice fields. The artwork can be enjoyed until the harvesting in September. Each year a different design is on show. This year, enormous stunning pictures of a Japanese Sengoku-period warrior and Napoleon, both on horseback, are created. The designs were not visible from ground level, and we had to climb the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work. The artwork was amazing and fantastic!

Inakadate rice field artwork of 2009

Japanese Sengoku warrior on horseback

Close up of Sengoku warrior

Napoleon on horseback

Close up of Napoleon

Different varieties of rice plant are grown alongside each other to create the artwork

Castle tower of village office

Hirosaki railway station and surrounding area
After enjoying the fabulous view of Inakadate rice field artwork, we returned back to Hirosaki city and checked into a hotel named ‘Toyoko Inn’ where we stayed that night. The hotel was just next to the Hirosaki railway station. It was almost five in the evening, and hubby was rather tired due to driving long distance (almost 250 km) and also due to visiting many sightseeing spots in the rain. After check-in, we had a cup of coffee at the hotel and then took rest for two hours. At about 7 pm, we went out to have dinner. It was raining very heavily and so we decided to have dinner at an Indian restaurant named Kantipur located in the same building as the hotel. We ordered a snack named samosa along with palak paneer curry, seafood curry, naan, and saffron rice. We were very tired and hungry, so the food tasted extremely delicious. After dinner we went back to our room and retired for the day.

Hubby having a cup of coffee at the hotel

Our dinner

Hubby having dinner

Next morning, after having breakfast, we checked out of the hotel. Hubby parked our car at a car park near Hirosaki railway station area. We then carried our baggage up to the railway station, which was only a five minute walk from the car park. However, it was raining rather heavily and we both got wet by the time we reached the station. Hirosaki railway station area is a beautiful place and we enjoyed viewing it before entering the station. Just in front of the station, there was a monument statue named ‘ringo-no-kaze’ depicting a man and a woman in standing pose and the woman holding a bunch of apples. The statue is representative of the fact that Hirosaki is a leading producer of apples in Japan with an annual yield of about 160,000 tons. There are about 3.12 million apple trees within the city limits itself. There was also a big statue of an apple on the top of a post box just outside the station.

Hubby carrying our baggage to Hirosaki railway station

Statue named ringo-no-kaze in front of Hirosaki railway station

Statue of an apple on top of a post box at Hirosaki station

At Hirosaki railway station, hubby and I purchased tickets from an automated ticketing machine counter for travel to Aomori city. On entering Hirosaki station, we found that it was beautiful inside the station also. There was a huge statue of an apple, a replica of Hirosaki Castle, and a replica of Former City Library. In addition, there was a sample Neputa festival float at the station. We enjoyed viewing them and took several photos for the sake of remembrance.

A huge statue of an apple inside Hirosaki station

Replicas of Former City Library and Hirosaki Castle

Sample Neputa festival float at Hirosaki station

Aomori railway station and surrounding area
It took us about an hour to reach Aomori railway station. We had a break of about 1.5 hours at the station. Then we changed the train and travelled further. During the break, we came out of the railway station just to see the station front and the surrounding area. We had an early lunch at a restaurant in the station building itself. Our lunch set consisted of tempura, sushi, chawanmsuhi, and udon noodles.

Aomori railway station

Our lunch

Hubby having lunch

We had a superb view of the outside while enjoying our lunch. We could clearly see the Aomori Bay Bridge and a Seikan memorial ferry ship named Hakkodamaru. The Aomori Bay Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge which is 1.2 km long and crosses the station. Hakkodamaru is moored at Aomori sea-port, which is only about five minutes walk from the railway station. Hakkodamaru is a memorial ship and is one of the famous attractions of Aomori city. It is a former Japanese national railways Seikan ferry which operated between Hokkaido and Honshu until March 1988. The ship and the bridge made a perfect sight.

Aomori Bay Bridge

Hakkodamaru memorial ship

After lunch, we moved around a bit inside the railway station. There was a display of mini ‘Nebuta Festival’ float which was very colorful and looked very cute. Nebuta Festival is a summer festival that takes place in Aomori city every year from August 2 to August 7. The festival is counted among the three largest festivals in the Tohoku region. Nebuta refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the city, while dancers wearing a set costume called haneto, dance around chanting ‘rassera’. The dancers wear a special kind of hat called Nebuta hanagasa flower hat. Next to the Nebuta float, there were displays of two hanagasa hats and a stand-in life size cardboard cutout of a haneto dancer. Travelers were encouraged to wear the hats and get a feel of the upcoming Nebuta festival. I wore the hat, and also posed and put my face through the hole in the cutout and took a photo of me being a haneto dancer. It was really fun!

Me wearing Nebuta hanagasa flower hat

I am a Haneto dancer!

By this time, the weather had cleared up. However, it was time to go to the platform. From Aomori, we went to Hakodate city in Hokkaido prefecture by train in an undersea tunnel called ‘Seikan tunnel’. In the next few posts I will write about our experience of travelling in the undersea tunnel as well as sightseeing in Hakodate city.

Aomori Bay Bridge as seen from a platform at Aomori railway station

Aomori Bay Bridge: fifteen storied triangular building called Aspam is seen in the background on the right

Trip to Hirosaki

As I wrote in the previous post, hubby and I went sightseeing on 18-20 July in Hirosaki city of Aomori prefecture and Hakodate city of Hokkaido prefecture. On our way to Hirosaki city, we saw the Museum of Big Drums in Akita prefecture, and then reached Hirosaki at about noon on 18th July. We had started from our home at 7.30 in the morning and it took us almost 4.5 hours to reach Hirosaki, which was a rather long car drive for hubby.

Hirosaki city is located in Aomori prefecture. During the Edo period, Hirosaki was the political and cultural capital of the Tsugaru region, the western section of present day Aomori prefecture. The city remains one of the culturally richest cities in the northern Tohoku region. We went to the following sightseeing tourist spots in Hirosaki.


Otemon Square
Otemon square is considered the best of Hirosaki and is one of the ‘Hirosaki musts’ that should not be missed when we are in town. Otemon Square was constructed in 1990 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Hirosaki as a city. The square is a focal point of culture and tourism in Hirosaki. Otemon Square stands across the main entrance gate of Hirosaki Castle, and was named after the main gate of the castle. The square is designed as a stepping off point for visitors to Hirosaki. Hirosaki City Sightseeing Information Center is located in Otemon Square, which is a good starting point for sightseeing in Hirosaki and the surrounding Tsugaru region. Here the tourists can get extensive information about lodging and places to visit. Maps, pamphlets, and advice about sightseeing spots of the city are available free of cost. The center also has a souvenir shop, a few restaurants, and a small exhibition about traditional local handicrafts and the Neputa festival.

Otemon Square and the Former City Library

Me standing at Otemon Square

Hirosaki City Sightseeing Information Center

A statue of Tamenobu, the first lord of Tsugaru domain, is on display at the Sightseeing Information Center. Tamenobu attacked many castles of the Lord of Nanbu during the Civil War period of the late 16th century. He won these battles and thus obtained approval of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590 to rule the Tsugaru region.

Hubby standing next to the statue of Tamenobu

A huge Neputa Festival float is also on display at the Sightseeing Information Center. During Neputa festival held in the first week of August, huge painted paper sculptures are paraded through the night streets illuminated from within, which is just like its neighbor Aomori Nebuta Festival. However, Hirosaki festival is a more elegant and low key affair, and often overshadowed by its neighbor Aomori Nebuta festival. The floats are generally fan-shaped, with two flat sides. One portrays a historical battle scene while the reverse shows a beautiful woman, often framed by scenes of death. The local view is that Hirosaki reflects the somber mood of preparation for war while Aomori expresses the jubilant return from a victorious battle.

Display of Neputa festival float at the Information Center

Me standing with the statue of Tamenobu and Neputa festival float

Hubby and I had lunch at a restaurant in Sightseeing Information Center itself. Hirosaki is a major production center of scallops (hotate in Japanese). Scallops from the city taste rich and full flavored. We tried the local traditional dishes of the city, which were simple and rustic. Hubby ordered a set lunch of hotate-tamagodon (scallop-egg on top of rice in a bowl) and zaru-soba (chilled soba noodles served on a flat basket topped with shredded nori seaweed). I order a set lunch of hotate-tamago, rice, zaru-soba, and chawanmushi. The lunch portion was too large for me so hubby ate half of my lunch also.

Our lunch

Hubby having lunch

Former Hirosaki City Library
Hirosaki is known as a city of romanticism and has many early European-style buildings that were built as Japan opened its door to the West. We can take a walk around the nostalgic streets with peak-roofed buildings and brick churches. However, it had started raining and hubby and I were unable to take a long walk around the city. So, we only saw Former Hirosaki City Library (Kyu Shiritsu Toshokan in Japanese), which stands around Otemon square. This building was erected in 1907 and donated to the city to commemorate the victory of Japan in the Russo-Japanese war and was used as the Hirosaki City Library until 1931. This renaissance-style building was designed and built by the great architect Horie Sakichi. Features such as the octagonal dome-shaped twin towers and the stonework foundation suggest a high standard of European-style architectural technique. The building has also been used in the past as a boardinghouse and a cafe. This building has been designated as a prefectural treasure and is open to the public.

Former Hirosaki City Library

Hirosaki Castle Park
Hirosaki Castle Park is also one of the ‘Hirosaki Musts’ that should not be missed when we are in town. The construction of Hirosaki Castle was begun in 1603 by the first Tsugaru lord, Tamenobu, and was completed in 1611 by the second lord, Nobuhira. The castle housed several generations of lords of the Tsugaru clan. Surrounded by three concentric moats, earthen fortifications, and 49.2 hectares of pine woods, the remains of the castle include five castle gates, three corner turrets, and a castle tower. These remains have been designated as important cultural assets of Japan. After the original five-storied tower was struck by lightning and burned down in 1627, it was replaced by the current three-storied tenshu donjon structure that was rebuilt in 1811 and is now open to the public as the Hirosaki Castle Museum. The castle tower museum features samurai-era swords, suits of armor, helmets, and other items related to the history of the castle. The castle grounds are now a public park called Hirosaki Park which is nationally known as one of the best cherry blossom viewing spots in spring.

Hubby and I entered the Hirosaki Castle Park from the main gate called ‘otemon’. It was nice to walk in the park surrounded by greenery with the leaves of all the trees looking remarkably new and fresh. After a few minutes of walking, we reached a bright and colorful bridge called ‘sugino ohashi’. A few more minutes of walk took us to another gate called ‘minami uchimon’. By this time it had started raining rather heavily, so we used umbrellas for visitors’ use that were provided by the castle park officials and kept in front of this gate. It was fun to do sightseeing in the rain. After a leisurely walk of 10-15 minutes, we reached another brightly colored bridge called ‘gejobashi’. We got a fabulous view of the castle tower from this bridge. There were swans swimming in the moat under the bridge and the view was simply superb. After crossing the bridge, we reached a ticket counter where we purchased tickets worth 300 Yen per person to see the museum inside the main tenshu tower. The three-story tenshu tower looked amazing and this tower is the only one in Tohoku region that was not rebuilt in the present modern era. We enjoyed seeing the samurai-era items and learned a few things about the war of that era. The outside view from the windows of the third floor of the tower was beautiful. We were inside the museum for about 20 minutes and when we came out of the museum, we saw that it was raining really very heavily. So we skipped seeing the castle park ground further and came out of the park site. We saw the most important assets of the park and we were happy about it.

Otemon gate of Hirosaki Castle Park

Me strolling in the park

Sugino ohashi bridge

Minami uchimon gate

Hirosaki Castle tower viewed from gejobashi bridge

Hubby standing at gejobashi bridge with castle tower in the background

Another view of the castle tower

A swan in the moat

A beautiful 300 year old pine tree of aiguromatsu species

Castle tower (museum)

Tower roof detail showing ornamental shachihoko, an animal in Japanese folklore with head of tiger and body of carp fish

Display of guns of samurai-era at the museum

Sword of samurai-era

Display of kamishimo formal clothing worn by samurai warrior during Edo period

Display of yoroi armor suits and helmets of Samurai-era

Kago (palanquin) used as a mode of transport

Gejobashi bridge as viewed from the third floor window of the tower

Saishoin Temple and Five-Storied Pagoda
Hirosaki, an old castle town, is also known as the city of History because numerous temples and shrines were built around the castle. It is nice to take a walk round historical Hirosaki. However, it was raining heavily by the time we finished seeing the Hirosaki Castle Park. So hubby and I went by our car to visit the temple site.

Near the entrance of the temple we got a beautiful view of the temple gate, the top of Pagoda, and a torii gate of an adjacent shrine. The temple gate marked the entrance to the temple grounds. The temple gate had a pair of large guardian statues called nio, one on either side of the entrance. These fierce looking nio statues named agyo and ungyo are supposed to protect the temple from evil spirits. Guardian statue called agyo has its mouth open as if saying ‘ah’ which symbolizes ‘opening’ or ‘birth’. The statue called ungyo has its mouth closed as if saying ‘um’ which symbolizes ‘closure’ or ‘death’. On the pathway leading to the main hall, there were several statues of Buddhist Gods. At the main hall, the sacred objects of worship such as statues were displayed. However, some repair work was underway and we could not enter the main hall. There was a cute looking temizuya with dragon ornamentation in the temple premises. Temizuya is a water basin used for purification before entering the temple proper. There was also a wheel called rinneto which indicates the endless cycle of suffering caused by birth, death, and rebirth, i.e., reincarnation, and is based on the Hindu concept of ‘samsara’. In addition, there were also a cemetery and a temple bell in the premises.

Approach to Saishoin temple

Main gate of the temple

Guardian statues ungyo and agyo at the temple gate

Temple premises

Main hall of the temple

Temizuya with dragon ornamentation at the temple

Rinneto wheel at the temple

Cemetery at the temple

Bell tower at the temple

A five-storied pagoda (Gojunoto in Japanese) was also present inside the temple premises. A pagoda is a structure that has evolved from the Indian stupa. The five-storied pagoda was built in 1667 by Nobuyoshi, the third lord of the Tsugaru clan, to commemorate those who died in battle, friends and enemies alike, during the unification of Tsugaru. It took ten years to build the pagoda and is located to the south-east of the Hirosaki Castle site. The five-storied pagoda, which stands 31.2 meters high and has a beautiful contrast of copper-red walls and white stucco, is considered the most beautiful of its kind in Tohoku. The pagoda was heavily damaged by a typhoon in 1991, and its repair and restoration was completed in 1994. The pagoda has been designated as a national important cultural property. We took several photos of the pagoda from various positions as we strolled inside the temple premises.

Five-storied pagoda as viewed from just inside the temple main gate. Here the down portion of the pagoda can be viewed with greater details.

The pagoda as viewed from the path near the temple main gate that leads to the main hall

Pagoda and the temple main gate (from inside)

Another view of the majestic pagoda

Front view of the pagoda

While leaving the temple premises, we saw a devotional bell called orin placed near the main entrance gate. Hubby prayed to the God by striking the orin bell with a small mallet. He is not religious but his act was so spontaneous that it looked really cute!

Hubby striking an orin bell with a small mallet

Next, we did sightseeing at Inakadate village in Minamitsugaru district, which was only about 10 km away from Hirosaki city. Later, we returned back to Hirosaki and stayed at a hotel near the railway station. The next day morning, we left for Aomori city by train. I will write about Inakadate village, Hirosaki railway station area, and Aomori railway station in the next post.