The Lobster Dance

At the end of my long-awaited return to civilization, a.k.a., Kansai, I decided to visit Exciting Shiga, Land of Hikonyan(!). Although I had lived near Osaka while studying abroad, I had never been to nearby Shiga　滋賀県, in part due to lack of knowledge, and in part due to lack of funds. But now that my life as a poor student is over, I want to really explore Japan during the time I’m living here.

Most expats and tourists to Japan have one thing they really love about “old Japan” and try to get their fill of while here: Japanese theater, temples and shrines, festivals, castles, etc. I’m more of a festival and shrine person, myself, but I’m trying to expand my horizons and learn more about Japanese castles and periods in which they were built and thrived, and Hikone Castle seemed like a good place to start while in the area.

Of course, the main purpose of my trip to Hikone was to see my beloved Hikonyan, but since we were going to be in Shiga, I decided that we should, you know, check out some of the other sight-seeing Shiga has to offer. A frenzied poke around the Internet led me to Osaka Insider’s posts on his trip around Biwako 琵琶湖. Feeling inspired, I decided to extent our visit by an extra day so that we could explore Mangetsu-ji, a floating Buddha shrine, and Ishiyama-dera, a famous temple complex. We’d head to Hikone for the night and then hit the castle and Pomme d’Amour before heading back to the express train out.

Mangetsu-ji 満月時, a.k.a. Ukimido 浮御堂, Katata 堅田

Mangetsu-ji 満月寺, or Ukimido 浮御堂, a floating shrine in Biwako, is really quite lovely. The walk there from the Katata station 堅田駅 was very beautiful—we walked along rice paddies, the lake, and a residential area with very narrow streets. I would recommend going to this temple only if it’s on the way to something else, because it’s quite small and out of the way from pretty much everything, and there’s also not really much to do in the area. We arrived around 9 am, and true to the sister-state promotional literature, Biwako and Lake Michigan, do, in fact, have similar climates thanks to the effects of the lake on the climate.

Ishiyama-dera 石山寺, Ishiyama-dera 石山寺

Our next stop, luggage in tow, was Ishiyama-dera　石山寺. Thankfully, this tiny station at the end of the line had coin lockers, so we stored our bags and walked along the river to the temple. One of my favorite things about Japan is the temple complexes—temples with gardens and/or shrines—like Kiyomizudera 清水寺, Tenryuuji 天竜寺, and Natadera　那谷寺. Ishiyama-dera did not disappoint. We spent about three hours wandering around inside, and the colors of the flowers and buildings were beautiful in the spring rain. (The rain itself, on the other hand, was counterproductive to my enjoying the flowers.)

The highlights were the plum grove, which would have been better if it hadn’t been raining; the forest path, which was incredibly colorful for early spring; and the garden at the base of the path.

Between the grove and the forest is a museum dedicated to Murasaki Shikibu, who seems to be following me in my travels.* We didn’t go in, but my companion did leave a 50 yen coin at the base of the statue of the novelist in the forest. Most people had left 1 yen coins, and a 5 yen coin is customary for shrines. When I asked him why he made such a contribution, he replied, “Praying to the gods is all well and good, but she actually created something.”

After coming down out of the forest and exploring a small garden and shrine, we hopped back on the train to Hikone.

Hikone Castle 彦根城, Hikone 彦根

The next morning, we left our bags at the front of the Hikone Comfort Inn behind the station and walked to the castle.** Hikone castle looms over the city of Hikone, but, in reality, it’s quite small and a very nice “first castle” for my companion to tackle in Japan. Right before the ticket office was a little cardboard cut out of Hikonyan, and my brain went into cute overload.

Apparently, there is an actor who plays Hikonyan (in a mascot suit) at the castle on certain days, but he (or she) was out Hikonyan-ing outside the castle, possibly for a school group. I didn’t really mind; I find people in character suits to be kind of creepy, so I was perfectly content with my cardboard cut-out.

We hit the museum, which is very small but has some interesting armor and art, and then, since the freak snow shower had stopped, we headed up into the castle grounds. Some early sakura were in bloom, and I happily snapped photos of the castle in the background of the lone cherry tree while my companion wondered if my time spent in Japan had somehow instilled the Japanese obsession with cherry blossoms in me. (Answer: Yes, it has.)

We half-climbed, half-crawled up the stairs to the third floor of the castle, where we were treated to a spectacular view of Biwako and the mountains. Living in semi-rural Shiga wouldn’t be so bad, I thought. After all, there’s a Heiwado at every train station, and my region doesn’t even have a single mall.

We wandered down into the gardens, where my companion, used to drier climates, marveled at how green everything was.

As if to mock me, the camellias in the garden were still on the trees, but the cherry blossoms were scarce on the ground. Shiga is, of course, colder than Kyoto, but due to cold snap in March, all the cherry blossoms this year were delayed by about a week. Fortunately, outside the castle by the stalls of Hikonyan and Hikone goods was a very small grove of cherry blossoms, so I did get to see some.

I think the Hikonyan song is still stuck in my head.

I made off with quite a stash of Hikonyan goods: a hankie, a pin, a towel, a cell-phone charm, and a stuffed toy.

I still can’t get over how cute Hikonyan is, and I really like using my Hikonyan stuff. There are a lot of places I haven’t visited in Japan, and without Hikonyan to inspire my visit, I wouldn’t have gotten to spend two fun days exploring Shiga. So, thanks, Hikonyan.

Notes
*I still haven’t read Genji in English or Japanese, though I would be willing to try if there’s a good simplified Japanese version out there.

** Comfort Inn near Hikone Station was the nicest hotel with the biggest rooms for the lowest price that we stayed in for the duration of our week-long trip. I had tried to stick to ryokan and local hostels to save money and give my traveling companion a taste of ryokan/onsen culture, but I do recommend the Comfort Inn, particularly if you have culture-shocked guests in tow.