From Shimizu we drove (loudly) to Yui which was the 16th station (post-town) on the Tokaido road from Edo to Kyoto. It has a lovely museum dedicated to Hiroshige and particularly his series of prints of the 53 stations of the Tokaido. This is the print of Yui as it was then.
And this is Yui now. We were lucky to arrive just as the Yui matsuri was taking place.
Hannah and Rika outside the museum. The picture shows the date of a compound where dynamos and their entorages would stay. The museum itsself was in a compound like this.
After Yiu we went down to Shizuoka City and stayed the night at Ya-chan and Makoji-chans apartment. Hannah playing with Ya-chan and Makoji-chan.
The next day we looked around Shizuoka city. In the middle of the city is Sumpu Park which is the grounds of Sumpu Castle.
This castle was the home of the 1st shogun Tokugawa Ieysau. After he set up the shogunate in Edo (Tokyo) he 'retired' here in 1605. His son became the 2nd shogun in Edo, but Ieyasu effectively ruled from Sumpu until his death in 1616. (And apparently he looked a lot like George W Bush, as you can see here)
As I mentioned before, Shizuoka City is sits right on top of a major fault line (where the Philippine Sea Plate, is subducting under the Amurian Plate ) which is responsible for many large earthquakes. Sumpu castle was partly destroyed in 1707 by the Hoei earthquake, and again in 1855 by the Ansei earthquake. More recently, parts of the rebuilt walls collapsed in this years earthquake.
InsideSumpu park is the Momijiyama Japanese Garden which is a minature landscape garden with a Mt Fuji with azaleas representing terraced tea fields, and a Suruga Bay with sandy beaches on the West side and a rocky shore on the Izu peninsular side..
While we were in town we could enjoy a bit of the Shizuoka Street Dance Festival, abd then we reluctently said goodbye and took the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
