A Chateau Up The Hill

On our way walking from Matsuyama Station to Dogo Onsen, we chanced upon this lovely villa up on a hill. Intrigued, we decided to make a quick stop to check the place out.

At the gate, there was a man in full military costume (ala Napoleon not Japanese soldier). Curiousity made me approached him but it seems that he wasn't really an official part of the villa - well maybe he is. He charged a fee for visitors to take photos with him. I think it was 100yen per photo per person or something.

 

 

 

 

The place is called Bansuiso Villa and was built by Count Hisamatsu Sadakoto in 1922. Count Hisamatsu Sadakoto was a direct descesdant of Matsuyama feudal lord.

The French influence came from the fact the the Count spent an extended period of time in France as the resident military attache and was completely besotted with the French style of architecture. The villa was the place to be in, its time and even the Imperial family came visiting when they were in Ehime. The Villa's construction was in fact rushed to be completed in time for Prince Hirohito (later Emperor Showa) visit.

Bansuiso was designated as a cultural property by Ehime prefecture in 1985 and was designated as one of the country's important cultural property in 2011.

Plus, this romantic villa is part of Saka no ue no kumo course (no 5 to be specific). It is now used as the annexe building of Saka no ue no kumo museum. I wish I learnt about this course and the novel "Cloud over the slope" which is what saka no ue no kumo means; written by Ryotaro Shiba prior to our visit. It would be nice to make a complete tour of the course, after reading the book (or watching the NHK produced drama of it), don't you think?

But of course, like most places we stumbled upon, I learnt about its history after our visit. Sometimes months and years after our visit. I guess that's why we simply have to return to Japan again and again. We always have unfinished business there!

Happy now, Jungle Woman?

At The Station : Dogo Onsen

It's a street-car/tram station. Quaint station.

The station is known as the doorway to Dogo Onsen; the oldest hot spring spa in Japan - all 3,000 years worth of history there. What stories can the onsen tell us? No wonder it is said that the onsen is an inspiration for the animated movie "Spirited Away". Even without knowing it before, I thought of "Spirited Away" when I saw Dogo Onsen. ^^

The Dogo Onsen station embodies the charm of Meiji era (1868-1912). However, the current building is not the original Meiji era building but was rebuilt in 1986 and identical to the original one that was outdated. Iyo Railway had initially wanted to turn the old station into a terminal building complete with a hotel and a shopping centre but locals (and local businesses) opposed to the plan and urged for the preservation of the station building.

I don't know about you, but I think it would be quite incongruous to have such modern replacement for the station, what with Dogo Onsen just a few minutes away from the station!

Not that the surrounding area really is in harmony with the 110 years old three-storey timber structure, important cultural property that is Dogo Onsen. heh

The Botchan Reesha, a diesel powered replica of the original Iyotetsu matchbox-like streetcar that operated in Matsuyama between 1888 - 19654.

The tram operates once an hour all year round (trips varies for weekends and holidays).

We didn't get on the Botchan Reesha on our way back to Matsuyama Station. We got on this instead. 150yen per trip.

The interior of the tram we took. Very retro looking interior, don't you think?

That guy in white pants was going for a run at a nearby park. He got on at a station near a hotel and got off a few stops later, but not before I saw his stuff (ID, phone, cash) neatly packed in a clear plastic case. That folks, is a sign of a runner, going for a run. Zaini mentioned that he should have just run from his hotel to the park. I totally agree with Zaini. hehe

Dogo Onsen

Dogo Onsen, located in Matsuyama, in the Ehime Prefecture has a long history and is one of the three oldest hot springs in Japan along with Arima Onsen in Hyogo Prefecture and Shirahama Onsen in Wakayama Prefecture.

Dogo Onsen has seen a number of imperial personages, aristocrats and cultured people including successive Emperors since ancient times. Especially since Dogo-Onsen-Honkan was built in 1894, it has become a more famous hot spring representative of the best in Japan.

Dogo Onsen was also depicted in the famous novel "Botchan" by Soseki Natsume (1867-1916) who was a great literary figure in that era. Thank you Minoru for the book, Botchan! I’ve got the English version, in case you readers are wondering. ^^

 

 

The wooden three-storied Dogo-Onsen-Honkan is designated a national important cultural property. A clock in Shinrokaku, which is a small tower on the roof, strikes three times a day in the morning, noon and evening respectively.

There is the "Kami-no-yu" bath on the first floor, and the "Tama-no-yu" bath and relaxation area for those who bathe in both baths are on the second floor. On the third floor, there are private rooms for users of "Tama-no-yu" bath and "Botchan-no-ma" which is a room associated with Soseki Natsume. Seeing the latter room is available on request.

Did we go in? No, we didn't. We are a penny-pinching family. We were just content looking at it from the outside. ^^

From Matsuyama Station To Dogo Onsen

Getting to Dogo Onsen from Matsuyama Station is easy.

In front of Matsuyama Station

 

You have the choice of taking the street-car/tram or any other wheeled vehicle to get directly to the famous onsen or you can be like us and do the hard way. You can take one right in front the Matsuyama Train Station. No worries.

Our way? Walk all the way from Matsuyama Station to Dogo Onsen. Come on. If a 9-year can do it, why can’t you? Right? Furthermore, you get to see plenty of interesting sights along the way!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty interesting stuff to see, right? I'll post up more details on these photos and the places we visited or passed by along the way to Dogo Onsen some time soon. No, Rurousha - wait for the explanation in the next post(s). Be patient. xD But anyhoo, I know you know about them or if not; will research them anyways. Am I right or am I right? hahaha

 

In front of the Dogo-onsen station, there is a karakuri-dokei; a gadget clock and a tub( footbath?), which was used in the Meiji-era (1867-1912) in Hojoen.

The L-shaped Dogo shopping street stretches from Dogo-Onsen-Honkan to the street-car/tram Dogo-onsen Station. Souvenir shops and restaurants line the street and public bathhouse "Tsubaki-no-yu" is at the intersection of the L-shaped shopping street. It is a white-walled, storehouse-style building and creates a different atmosphere from that of Dogo-Onsen-Honkan, which was constructed in a wooden castle-style design.

Cover Story - Matsuyama

Had a blast looking for the awesome and interesting manhole covers in the cities we visited in Japan again this year. Seen my earlier post on Yokohama's manhole covers or Takamatsu's? I had a few more posts on manhole covers at other places we visited in 2007-2010 stashed away somewhere too. Do look it up, if you are interested. ^^

 This one looks boring compared to the colour versions!

Can't seem to find the story behind the flowers despite searching. Anyone knows?

All three version were found during our walk from Matsuyama Station to Dogo Onsen last year. How far was it? About 4km if I'm not mistaken. If you are going to Dogo Onsen, I totally recommend taking the tram once and one trip made with walking. There are lots of interesting stuff you can see when you are meandering around instead of going direct to your destination!

With this post, a Shikoku series is now officially starting! Wait for it! Though most of it will have like a gazillion worth of autumn photos in them. Not really season appropriate, I have to admit.

But I have to warn you. In between the Shikoku posts, there will be interruptions as I will slot in some Tokyo Sky Tree posts to herald its opening this May!

Cheezu!

Just a cheesy post... and being cheesy posing with cutouts all over Japan.

 

 

 

Say cheese!

2011 Trip Recap, Part I

Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! あけましておめでとうございます *^-^* Hope that 2012 will be a good year for everyone. 

To celebrate the new year, a look back at 2011's trip to Japan which we made and ended just a few weeks ago. Hopefully, there'll be more Japan trips for us in the future! (Although we *agreed* to take a break from visiting Japan in 2012 & 2013). 

We went sightseeing in Yokohama on our second day in Japan, the first day being too late to do anything other than checking-in and sleeping in a hotel near Haneda Airport for us.

From Yokohama, we made our way to Yufuin. Checked-in at a pretty cool cottage and had two baths all to ourselves. 

The first half of Day 4 was spent sightseeing in Yufuin. Pity it rained after I had my morning run there because after we checked-out, we were unable to travel much around the area because it was a tad cold with the rain. But we made it to Lake Kinrinko and walked around the town area.

Day 5 was spent at Huis Ten Bosch, feeling like we were not in Japan but in Holland albeit Japanese speaking part of Holland. LOL

The evening was spent with a blogging friend, Hanny who lives in Kitakyushu, making and eating takoyaki with her two boys.

From Hakata, we made our way to Shikoku Island on Day 6 of our trip. Lrong was in Takamatsu that day and had kindly suggested to meet for lunch but as luck would have it, we were unable to secure any early train seats reservations and with the one we had, we arrived too late to meet-up for lunch.

So instead of heading straight to Takamatsu as planned earlier, we made our way to Matsuyama first. Walked from Matsuyama Station to Dogo Onsen and stopped whenever we see nice/interesting sites; which I will post more of soon.

Day 7 was spent visiting Shikoku Mura and Ritsurin Koen and the evening was spent walking around the port area and what is touted to be the biggest shopping street in Japan.

There were rainy and gloomy days when we were there but through Day 7, we were lucky that the rain didn't spoil our plan much. How were the days after that? Stay tuned!

Day 8 - Day 14 recap soon!