IgaUeno - short update and photos

IgaUeno, a little countryside town tucked away an hour's train journey into the mountains from Nara, is famous for two(2) things.

1) Matsuo Basho (松尾芭蕉, 1644-1694)

A wandering dude and Japan's most famous haiku poet. Visiting his birth place and reading up on him, I started feeling something of a kinship with him. :)

His most famous haiku:

古池や

蛙飛び込む

水の音

an old pond

a frog jumps in

the sound of water

or perhaps in my case, more suitable would be:

旅に病んで
夢は枯れ野を
かけぬぐる

on a journey, ailing
my dreams roam around
over a withered moor

He wrote that one, as he was dying in Kyoto, having fallen sick right after embarking on one of his journeys...

A statue of Basho right outside the IgaUeno train station.
2) Hattori Hanzo and his jolly ninjas.

This becomes evident right after you lay your eyes on the local train that takes you to the town.
There are ninjas (kinda) lounging about everywhere around the station and the town.
Even on top of cars. Oh, how their flipping-out amuses me to no end, the silly masters-of-disguise!The kids in IgaUeno start their hard-as-nails ninja training from early age.The moat of IgaUeno castle.
And the castle itself. Hattori Hanzo used to rule here with an iron-clawed fist.Even in the castle, ninjas, everywhere. All doomed, doomed I tell you...Masks in a museum. Creepy, but very nice.


Next up, Osaka.