Kicking the bucket...list: Day 18 - Getting it up and keeping it up

 

Tensha-en 

In lieu of a functioning dining room, breakfast at the Uwajima Oriental Hotel 宇和島オリエンタルホテル started off with a breakfast bento:

While eating the most important meal of the day, the TV weather report announced the obvious in the form of an English lesson:

I hadn't been impressed with Uwajima 宇和島 the previous evening when I checked into my hotel after an enjoyable day of driving, then went outside in search of a meal, namely because almost everything was closed in the Uwajima Kisaiya Road 宇和島きさいやロード shopping arcade. But cities can redeem themselves, and in Uwajima's case redemption came in the form of the fertility shrine Taga-jinja 多賀神社. Or to be more specific, it was the Sex Museum 凹凸上堂, with its three floors of wall-to-wall erotica, that started the day off right. The first floor proudly showed off its collection of Japanese fertility symbols and figurines going back centuries: 

The second floor held similar objects from around the world, including these artifacts from the Paiwan aboriginal tribe in Taiwan: 

No surprise as to how Europe was represented: 

Examples from Southeast Asia: 

Erotic art showing a Japanese prostitute having sex with a Dutchman in Nagasaki 長崎:

There were more examples of shunga 春画 on the third floor dating back to the Edo 江戸時代 and Meiji 明治時代 periods:

An erotic depiction of sumō wrestling 相撲:

The grounds of the shrine also held examples of log or stone phalluses. Fertility symbols were once common throughout Japan, but with the arrival of dull, joyless Westerners in the late Victorian era, equally hypocritical Japanese authority figures moved to impose impotence on the society at large by suppresing these expressions of fun procreation:

At this point I owe you, the reader, an apology for forgetting to write that this post may not be safe for work or small children.

Thanks to all that pornography it was with a spring in my step as I walked back to the hotel:

The city continued to look better in my eyes as I checked out of the hotel and drove to my next destination. Uwajima-jō 宇和島城 sits atop an 80 meter/262 foot-high hill in Shiroyama-kōen 城山公園 park. The three-story castle dates from 1601, when it was known as Itajima. It came under the control of a branch of the Date clan 伊達氏 in 1615 before being taken over by the new central government during the Meiji Restoration 明治維新. The present donjon (main keep) was rebuilt in 1666 by the daimyō 大名 (feudal lord) Date Munetoshi , and is one of only a dozen such originals remaining in Japan (I've been to ten, including five of them on this recent trip*). There wasn't much to see in the castle building itself, but there were good views of the city below: 

I hadn't realized until then that Uwajima is a port city:

A blood orange drink purchased at the tourist office located next to the castle's parking lot. It was bloody delicious:

My final stop in Uwajima was the small formal garden of Tensha-en 天赦園, laid out in 1866. The irises were still in bloom at the time of my visit: 

Highlights of the garden included the tea room...:

...and the Harusame-tei calligraphy hut: 

A common feature of traditional Japanese gardens is the use of borrowed scenery that incorporate views of nearby natural features (usually hills or mountains) in the layout of the design. In Tensha-en's case, there is a beautiful view of the Mt. Onigajō 鬼ヶ城: 

Following a morning of porn, castles and gardens, it was time to bade Uwajima a fond farewell and hit the road. Lunch was had at the Roadside Station Donburi-kan 道の駅どんぶり館 in the Ehime Prefecture 愛媛県 city of Seiyo 西予市, where I had the (what else?) Seiyo pork ginger set:

In March of last year the BBC posted an article on why visitors to Japan should add Ōzu 大洲, a small city in the southern part of Ehime-ken, to their itineraries. I'd already long planned on stopping there on the way to Matsuyama 松山 from Uwajima, but there appeared to be only a handful of Western visitors who might've taken the Beeb's advice (though Ozu apparently was on the schedule for quite a few Korean tourists). The "little Kyōto" 京都 description is exaggerated, but the city does have its charming attractions. After snagging the last remaining spot in the main public parking lot in the center of the tourist zone, I set off to explore Ozu's paved streets and preserved Edo- and Meiji-era buildings. 

My late friend Louis would have appreciated this photo:

Though Ozu is probably best known for its castle (destroyed in 1888, rebuilt in 2004), I headed off to the other side of town, where the Garyū Sansō 臥龍山荘 villa is set on a cliff beside the Hiji-kawa River 肱川. It was completed in 1907 after a decade of planning and construction for a local merchant as a place to enjoy his retirement. 

When all the tatami mats 畳 are removed from the Isshi Room 壱是の間, the space can be used as a Noh 能 stage: 

The Kagetsu Room is a teahouse built in a farmhouse style:

The rock garden:

The Seisui Room 静水の間, with its high ceiling and rattan carpet, was designed to be used in summer:

The family crest of the Kouchi family, the villa's original inhabitants:

The Garyuin resembles a farmhouse with its thatched roof. Skilled carpenters from Kyoto assisted in its original construction:

The swollen Hiji River as seen from the Garyuin:

The Garyu Sanso's most striking feature is the Bunko, a Nationally Important Cultural Asset:

Back to exploring the streets of Ozu:

A collection of retro advertising signs:

I often relied on this product in the neverending battle against cockroaches ゴキブリ in my various Tōkyō 東京 apartments:

Before leaving town I stopped in at the Ōzu Akarenga-kan おおず赤煉瓦館, a red-brick complex completed in 1901 and originally used as a bank that now hosts a cafe, gallery and gift shop: 

Ozu Castle in the distance, the reconstruction I opted not to visit as the snob in me would only patronize original structures on this trip:

Ted's Guest House & Cycle Activity Center in Uchiko 内子, my home for the evening on Day 18. I would be the only guest staying there, and after the staff had gone home at the end of the day, I had the three-story building to myself for the rest of the night. Sadly, nothing eerie, ghostly or supernatural happened during that entire time:

Wandering the quiet streets of Uchiko in search of a meal. I'll have more to say about the town in my next post (or you can follow this link), but for now I was just looking for a place to satisfy my hunger:

And that place would be the delightfully retro Syaron, where I tucked into the hamburg steak set:

The good food was supplemented with the friendly cat-in-residence:

Sunset over Uchiko:

By this point I was almost ¾ of the way through the latest Japanese jaunt, and in the last of Shikoku's 四国 four prefectures. In the next installment I'll spend most of the day exploring Uchiko before driving on to the island's biggest city, Matsuyama. Hope you'll join me! 

*The four new (to me) castles I visited on this trip were Kōchi-jō 高知城, Uwajima-jō, Matsuyama-jō 松山城 and Marugame-jō 丸亀城. I also saw Himeiji Castle for the second time 姫路城, having previously visited in the summer of 1990.