Aizuwakamatsu in bloom

Aizuwakamatsu used to house a great Samurai klan which is hard not to notice wandering around the historical sights. We went there to admire the castle and the many blooming cherry trees:


The original castle dates back to 1384, but it has been redesigned and rebuilt various times and the current version is from 1965 - an replica of the castle tower as it looked before it was demolished by the Meji gouvernment in 1874.

Aizuwakamatsu is also known for the tragic tale of 20 young samurai warriors whom during a battle against the Meji gouvernment, had fled to a hill top. From the hill top the young samurais thought they saw the castle on fire and feared everything was lost to the enemy, so they decided to commit ritiual suicide. One boy survied though, and could tell the story.
Eventhough our Japanese is not that good, watching this theater play, we had no doubt about the story:


In reality it was the forest that was in fire and not the castle, which made the suicide even more tragic. The graves of the 19 boys can still be found on the top of the hill.

Another pic from the play:



Hongo
Sunday we went to Hongo, which is a small village just outside Aizuwakamatsu. The place is famous for its pottery that dates back to the epoca of samurais and feudal lords. Hongo first became a pottery williage 400 years ago, when tiles to build the castle was demanded made there.

It is possible to visit the many pottery workshops today, there is only one though, Munakata, that handles the entire potterymaking process in a strictly traditional manner. When we arrived at his workshop we were greeted by a nice woman who invited us in and after a few minutes asked us to take a seat on a cusion. Here she served salted cucumbers and fresh made tea. Afterwards we took another look in the shop and ended buying a set of teacups. When we paid, she invited us to take a seat again, so that she could serve us coffee while she packed the goods for us.
Buying things tend to be a very slow, but thorough and respectful matter here in Japan.