Finally I reached at Ueda castle at Ueda city in Nagano prefecture. This castle was constructed by brave samurai captain Masayuki Sanada (1547-1611) in 1583. His son Yukimura and his 10 samurais’ story was very popular in Japan. These 10 lionhearted samurai may be fiction, but they became heroes in the novel, movie, manga and anime.
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- Ueda castle
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- stone wall of Ueda castle
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- Sanada’s family crests “Rokumonsen” (6-mon coin)
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- Sanada’s helmet is red (Aka kabuto). In the castle, I found a big red helmet ornament at the shrine.
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- Sanada shrine at Ueda castle
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- You can see the mark of Rokumonsen at the shrine’s curtain.
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- Komainu (guardian dog) seems brave!
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- The gate of Ueda castle
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- The gate
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- The gate
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- The gate and stone wall
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- Ueda castle at the parting day
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- Ueda castle at the parting day
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- Sanada’s red helmet and armor
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- At the festival, they hold the contest of Yukimura Sanada. (This is a poster)
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- image of Sanada 10 samurai
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- big maidehair tree at Ueda castle
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- Ueda castle’s fosse had changed the railroad, and now it was a quiet mall.
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- Ueda castle’s mall
Love the last 2 photos so well -the smell of the Fall ,the long road with yellow leaves , the gentle wind , the cool fresh air , the birds’ singings … Everything is just so pure there !
When I visited the castle’s moat, it was near the sunset, so it was little bit dark for taking a picture without flash. But it was quiet and very beautiful.
I am again speechless. All of Your photos are so great, so beautiful. My favorite photo is that one presenting stone wall. In Finland many of our old churches are surrounded by stone walls.
In Japan, big stone walls were made at the castle of samurai in order to protect them. It is famous that Osaka castle used huge stone walls. So I don’t remind the big stone walls at shrines.