Our ship cruised south through the night and entered Kochi Harbor at breakfast time. We elected to tour another castle … by the way, a Japanese Castle represents the residence and stronghold of a regional Samurai Lord. The Castle was constructed between 1601 and 1611, and rebuilt in the early 1700s.
The castle utilized two rivers to form a moat system. We then had to walk up approximately 200 steps to reach the entrance of the castle keep.
Here is Mrs Bear at the beginning of the steep climb with the castle in the background.
Once you make it to the actual castle entrance, the real ascent begins. The goal is the observation walkway near the top … you can see a couple people on it in the photo above. While not nearly as vertical, the steps are steeper and larger. More people turned around before reaching the top than on the ascent that reaches the castle. As always, success yields a view in all directions of the city below.
The photo above is a model of what the castle looked like in its prime.
Prior to scaling the castle steps, we stopped at a museum dedicated to an artist from Kochi who lived in the early 1800s. He grew up as the son of a local peasant, to be named the resident artist for the local Samurai clan. But then he was named in a scandal which involved the reproduction of an original work … this crime carried a corporal punishment, so the artist disappeared for 10 years. When he resurfaced, he began painting for the general public, who adored him. His work became very popular, and in my mind, very complex. The museum guide showed off a couple of his works and stated that there were multiple themes in the paintings.
I thought they were very interesting, but I was most impressed that the artist produced his best work when painting for “ the people “ rather than when he tried to paint for the ruling class !!
The Adventures of Barry Brink 