Tying up loose ends

And then there were only a few days left of Nikki's trip so we spent them close to home. We went to the Ghibli Museum (we'd been trying to go forever but one needs to reserve tickets which was a bit of a pain until my Japanese improved.) Which was pretty cool, but over crowded. They building was neat, with lots of bridges and winding staircases and rooms that went nowhere and a gallery of how Miyazaki films are made as well as a room that was designed to look like his office. I think the best part was the iron bird cage like stairs that led up to the garden on the roof and the giant robot for 'Castle in the Sky.' Afterwards, we wandered about the park the museum is situated in and chased pigeons, watched koi, prayed at a little shrine built on an island in a pond and admired this man's water colour painting of it all. We found this neat stretch of shops in Kichioji and ate a super delicious apple and cinnamon crepe and then we caught the train to Shibuya. We kicked about there for a bit, (At Tower records there was a display of the costumes used in the Kenshin movie I saw with Kevin in fall!) went to Shinjuku for coffee and books and headed home to Otsuki.

 

 I actually had to go back to work sometime in the middle of the week but after that we went to Tokyo again to spend a couple nights before Nikki had to fly out on Sunday. The best day was Friday when we went to Odaiba. It was nearly warm as we got off the train and went to the Gundam cafe and there was a very cool castle made out of ice promoting 'Game of Thrones.' We did some window shopping at the Roxy shop and went and drooled over this absolutely fabulously adorable kittens at the pet shop and then the sun went down. It was a glorious sunset and between the skyscrapers I saw Fuji cloaked in shadows. it was so cool. I knew it was possible to see Fuji from Tokyo but have never seen it that clearly before.

I suppose this trip with Nikki really was about tying up loose ends: going back to Takayama, finishing the three of the daibutsu, finally taking Nikki to Nikko and the Ghibli museum. So in the nature of this trip we at last went out and found the Sangakuji Temple in Shinagawa. This temple is very important when considering the tale of the 47 ronin. I wonder if I've ever written about it. I will do so now. Mukashi, mukashi, in 18th century Edo era Japan there was this policy where warlords had to make expensive trips back and forth to the capital (now Tokyo, then Edo) every other year to pay visit to the shogun and visit their families that were practically held hostage so that the various lords would not rebel as was seen in the sengoku era. Lord Asano of Ako was asked on one of the trips to preform a tea ceremony with the masters of ceremony, (or some other equivalently pretentious title) Lord Kira. Lord Asano was born a samurai but Lord Kira had always lived a quaint little life in the comforts of the capital and viciously  offended Lord Asano day after day with insults about his way of life. At last enrage, Asano drew his sword and struck Kira (whether the cheek or the shoulder I'm not sure as both are mentioned in different accounts) causing a small scratch. But drawing one's sword in the shogun's palace was punishable by death and lord Asano was executed for his crime. His family was exiled and his retainers and men were all released from their positions as the castle in Ako was handed over to a new lord. Of these retainers, Oishi Kuranosuke, a high ranking vassal, (a statue of the guy below) decided to take vengeance in his own hands. They were ronin now, masterless samurai but 47 of those most loyal to Lord Asano vowed to avenge him. It took two years of planning and ruining their reputations so Lord kira would let down his guard. Oishi divorced his family so they would not be punished, and began leading a life of debauchery so to not look suspicious There is story about a man who found him lying drunk in the street and stepped on him saying something along the lines of 'how could you let yourself fall and fail your lord by letting his death go unavenged.' it was all part of his plan. For two years after the death of their lord the ronin began filtering into Edo under different guises. And on a cold night in December, when Kira thought he was safe, they attacked his home and killed him. The took Lord Kira's head to their Lord's grave at Sengakuji Temple and presented it to him thus completing their last duty of loyalty to their lord. They were of course punished for their crime but recognizing they had acted only to the code of Bushido, (A code of morals a samurai was expected to follow except this was coming to a time when the samurai were growing lazy and lawless in a time that no longer had need of them. The Edo period was considered relatively peaceful excluding this hiccup of course.) the shogun allowed them to take their own lives opposed to a dishonourable execution. This might not seem like much but honour was everything and this was a blessing to the ronin. They  took their own lives before their lord and were buried their alongside him to serve him even after life. The loose ends: actually only 46 ronin committed suicide, the 47th returned to Ako with the news and was spared by the shogun eventually because of his youth. He was buried at Sengakuji when he died of natural causes many years later. (Perhaps we have him to thank for this story.) And the man who stepped on lord Oishi? He went to Sengakuji to beg for forgiveness from the long gone Lord Oishi and was buried their too I believe. So Sengakuji was a really cool experience for me, a little solemn but in the end I got a Oishi Hello kitty out of it because I rewarded myself for understanding the old man's Japanese as he explained the little phone charm.

Mmmm after we went to the Tokyo dome to explore what was there, not much of anything so we pressed on to Ikebukuro for a bit of shopping and found this place called Namjatown which was this really cool indoor theme park with lots of different gyoza, ice cream, sweets and different lands like a haunted shrine and a forest and an old town scene of Tokyo. It was cool. We grabbed dinner and at the very end of the night we went to see Tokyo Tower all lit up because Nikki had never actually been there. All and all a successful final outing.

But that's just what it was... a final outing, for the next morning we boarded the train before the sun and went to the airport so she could catch her painfully early flight back home... Alone again, I went to a coffee shop for breakfast and to work on my new story. And then it was cold and wintery.