My last post was written from the hotel lobby in our hotel in Hiroshima in the early morning while Wakana slept upstairs. More about Hiroshima later. So far I have only told you about our first visit to Tadai-ji.

Next day we visited Nijo Castle. This fortress was built by the first Tokugawa shogun. It is a huge and beautiful place with a broad moat and thick gates. Inside are graceful buildings decorated with painted carvings. We had to remove our shoes to tour the inside of the palace. I rented an audio guide to explain what I was looking at. One of the unique parts of the castle is the nightingale floors. These corridor floors are designed to squeak when walked upon. Nobody could pass without making noise. It uses a system of nails and clamps and seems to be tuned because each floor board had a slightly different sound.

Outside the grounds are all sculpted gardens with neat ponds and trimmed trees. Parts of the castle are designed to give a clear view of the gardens so the shogun and his guests could view the garden while drinking their tea. One pond includes a rocky island and a waterfall.

Outside of Nijo Castle we found a sword shop. Unlike the souvenir swords you can buy everywhere this shop sells the real thing. The cheapest blade I saw in there was 1.2 million yen! They also carried a full line of accessories, braided decorative wrappings, embroidered silk sword cases, books on the uses of the sword, etc. They wouldn쳌ft let me take pictures of the swords but I got a shot from outside the shop. My daughters would have been drooling over that one.