Sightings of a world traveler: Matsumoto and Kamikochi

Matsumoto Castle (松本城), originally called Fukashi Castle, is one of the three original castles in Japan and is in Matsumoto, Nagano, Japan. It is the oldest five-story donjon tower in Japan. The castle is surrounded by a small moat and the grounds are not as large as some other castles in Japan but it is very beautiful with the dark black siding that gives it the nickname crow castle (like in Okayama). The castle was home to 23 generations (including 6 families) that were successors of the Matsumoto Clan including the Ishikawa, Ogasawara, Todo Senior, Matsudaira, Hotta, Mizuno and Toda Junior families.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

Most of the larger castles that sat in various cities affected by wars had two moats surrounding the castle grounds but in Matsumoto the castle grounds were very small and only one moat remains. It doesn't look like it would have been very well defended against cannon or catapult attacks.

The moon observatory scaffold is a room that has three sides open to the air with sliding doors but it was under construction.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

The moat is home to a pair of swans that grace throughout the water beautifully.

The inner grounds of the castle only have one building remaining but previously most of the grass area in the photo below would have been various building. Residences were built after the completion of the tower and was the lords house and the administrative center. It was the center of political life in the area until it burned down in the 12th year of the Kyoho Era. Residence moved to the second wing and was the center of politics until the end of the Edo Era. This is now a historical park.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

The inside of the castle keep has thick wood support beams said to be the original of the castle, which is very unusual for a castle in Japan since many of them have been destroyed by fire or war. Pillars are made of hemlock, cypress and pine. The old wood looks very stunning.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

The castle contains an exhibit of artifacts such as armor, swords, knives and guns.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

The view from the top of the keep looks around the city. Although the castle is set on flat ground making it not as high of a view as some of the castles perched on small mountains in the cities, it still provides a nice view of the park below and the city surrounding it.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

When the moat is calm and the sun is setting the lighting on the castle is beautiful and the reflection in the moat is very clear.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

My favorite view of the castle was from in front of the red bridge that frames the castles nicely and provides a very nice foreground to the photos.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

I couldn't help but play with some of the setting including selective colour. Since Japan has special significance for the colour red in preventing evil demons from entering a gate or crossing a bridge there are many occasions for this fun effect.

Matsumoto Castle (松本城)

Our real purpose for staying in Matsumoto was actually access to Kamikochi (上高地). Kamikochi is a nearby mountain valley within Chūbu-Sangaku National Park. It has been preserved nicely and the forest is actually old mixed woods. It is a famous area for hiking in the Japanese alps, however what we found is that there are not any good day hikes that you can really do from Matsumoto. Some might be attempted if you get a really early start from accommodation in Kamikochi but the added time to get there by train makes it too tight of a squeeze to fit in one of the alpine hikes which are more like a weekend to a week trip. Word of warning though. Pack food! They do have some sit down restaurants but nothing where you can get good food like a bento box to hike around with.

Kamikochi (上高地)

I was sad to miss out on the opportunity to hike up high into the alps of Japan. The photos of them look gorgeous and Kamikochi is a perfect place to start one of these treks. Kamikochi itself as the valley is incredibly beautiful. Visiting in the fall meant we got to see some colour in the leaves.

Kamikochi (上高地)

There are walking trails all throughout Kamikochi that make a nice loop around the valley and various sights it has. One of the first iconic places we passed was Kappa Bridge (河童橋). The bridge in this location has been rebuilt seven times and was originally a drawbridge and then a simple suspension bridge with no handrails.

Kappa Bridge (河童橋)

View from Kappa Bridge (河童橋)

The birding in Kamikochi was amazing. I was really hoping for the chance to see a Narcissus flycatcher but sadly this was missed. Birds were a constant along the walking trails although most often they were high in the tops of ancient trees and very difficult to spot. There were Coal Tits, Willow Tits, Japanese Woodpeckers, Japanese Pygmy Woodpeckers, Eurasian Wrens, Gray Wagtails, Brown Dippers, Mallard Ducks, Oriental Turtle Doves and Eurasian Nuthatches.

Eurasian Wren

Kamikochi has a series of winding rivers joining into one main river. The area is spotted with wetlands. This is one of the only places in Japan I have seen undisturbed wetlands.

Kamikochi (上高地)

The trails through the valley are large and well maintained. They are mostly dirt and gravel as they go through the forest and boardwalks through the wetlands or across the streams.

Kamikochi (上高地)

The waters of the streams are crystal clear and to the touch they feel like onsen water but very cold. I guess it is the minerals in the water that give it the smooth feeling but there are onsen hotels in Kamikochi so there are some hotsprings but they have all been developed by now I presume.

Kamikochi (上高地)

The colours of the forest didn't have much bright red in them but most of the trees were orange-yellow. The mountains were scattered with coniferous trees that kept green blotches in the landscape.

Kamikochi (上高地)

The under-story of the forest was mostly the thick bladed grass that is common in the mountains of Japan. I believe the genus is Sasa but I am not sure how to tell the species apart.

Kamikochi (上高地)

The main river is wide and shallow but I expect flooding in the spring from snow melt can make it much deeper.

Kamikochi (上高地)

I would say it really does take a full day walking around Kamikochi to see everything and even longer if you are birdwatching or taking your time to enjoy the sights. It was hard to rush through any of it and I was definitely slowing us down with trying to see birds in the treetops or flitting around the under story.

Kamikochi (上高地)

Myojin-ike Pond was where I was really hoping to see my first Harlequin Duck but although it was very pretty with the landscape there were only Mallard Ducks out that day. It cost 300Yen to enter and I can't really decide if it is worth it. It was lovely but everything in the area is lovely and the rest of it is free. Rare kinds of waterweed and fresh water fish can be found here.

Myojin-ike Pond

The pond has only one straight trail that is about 500m long so you walk the same way there and back and there is a small shrine on a dock. I guess you can decide if it would be worth it for you from these photos.

Myojin-ike Pond

Mallard Duck at Myojin-ike Pond

Myojin-ike Pond

The route we took went from Kappa-bashi up to Myojin-ike and across the Myojin-bashi bridge. I found the right shoreline of the Azusa-gawa River more beautiful than the left shore path (names from the map not the direction I was facing) on that side of the Kappa-bashi.

Kamikochi (上高地)

Myojin-bashi Bridge, Kamikochi (上高地)

This preference was mostly because the left side path was forested and although it had splendorous view of the mountains it didn't have the wetlands that truly amazed me.

Kamikochi (上高地)

On the other side of Kappa-bashi we walked along the path to Tashiro-ike Pond and Taisho-ike Pond. The path has wonderful views of the river and the mountains behind it.

Kamikochi (上高地)

When you reach the split between the Azusagawa course and the Forest course it starts to get more wetland habitat again. Both courses take you to Tashiro-ike Pond.

Kamikochi (上高地)

Before you get to the actual pond you pass a fairly large open bog like wetland. I expect that visiting it earlier in the year you could see some pretty spectacular plants here but in the fall everything was quite dead.

Kamikochi (上高地)

Tashiro-ike Pond was previously a 5m deep pond but sediment and litter has filled it over time to create wetland areas and a much smaller pond that is more like a wide part of a creek. The water here has darker streaks with tanins leaking out from the wetland.

Tashiro-ike Pond, Kamikochi

Kamikochi (上高地)

The path to Taisho-ike Pond has a view of Mt. Yake-dake and follows a lovely boardwalk though a wooded wetland area on the edge of the pond.

Kamikochi (上高地)

Taisho pond (大正池) is a large pond with clear waters that reflect the mountains and sky above. The pond was formed by volcanic activity of Mt. Yake-dake in 1915, which is still active currently.

Taisho pond (大正池)

The weather wasn't very clear during my visit but this would have been spectacular on a day with clear blue skies. You get great views of Mt. Hotaka and Yake-dake.

Taisho pond (大正池)

Kamikochi is true to it's description of being otherworldly in Japan. So far in my year here I haven't encountered anything that measures up to it's unique beauty and diversity of habitats and wildlife. Although I am still sad to miss out of the true alpine hikes of the area because of the time constraints I am so glad to have seen the beauty of the Kamikochi valley.

Taisho pond (大正池)

Sightings of a world traveler

Monday 15 October 2018

Matsumoto and Kamikochi

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