Sakaiminato, Tottori Prefecture
May 3, 2019
The city of Sakaiminato was founded in 1956 as a port to do business with the United Kingdom and the United States. It has a population of around 36,000, and covers an area of about 29 square kilometres.
Even before the official formation of the city, the Sakaiminato area had a long history as a seaport for this region of Japan, and since the end of World War II has served as a main base for the fishing industry for all of western Japan. Consequently, it has a large fish processing industry.
Sakaiminato would be our last city to visit down this northwest coast of Japan before we popped across the Sea of Japan to Busan, South Korea where the ship would stock up on fuel and food.
Entering Port at Sakaiminato
Coming into port at Sakaiminato. Our birthing tug sits patiently, waiting for us to arrive.
Our Time In Sakaiminato
Our ship passes that get us into the tours of the castle and the river/canal cruise. No ticket, no access. So we’d have to keep these in a safe and memorable location.
While in Sakaiminato, we visited the famous Matsue Castle and also traveled around the Kyobashi River “canal” system in the town. On board a small eight passenger boat, the voyage would see us lying down flat on the floor of the craft in order to travel under the many road overpasses of the narrow waterway. It reminded us of cruising down the Seine River in France, when the ship’s bridge and deck railings had to be lowered in order to fit under certain bridges. That ship, however, was much more comfortable than this little boat.
Kyobashi “River” Cruise
Despite this canal/river cruise being a classic tourist activity, it did show us a different side of this city, and in a very peaceful and uncrowded manner.
The little vessels that we traveled around the canal system in held eight passengers and the boat’s operator. He sat at the back and operated the outboard motor, as well as the roof. Yes, the roof. This cruise was similar to our Seine river cruise in that many bridges over the canal were too low, and the boat had to lower its roof in order to pass underneath.
As with most excursions from a cruise ship, the route to the end location takes us through the town where the ship is docked. Being spring in Japan, the flowers are coming out into bloom.
A few turtles catching the morning sun rays.
The river cruise took several hours to complete, and aside from the scenery, we did see a bit of local wildlife.
Also viewable from the river cruise boat was the castle that we would visit after the river cruise was completed. The castle, however, was not so peaceful and quiet. Continuing with the Golden Week holiday tourists from around Japan, the castle would turn out to be very crowded.
Many of the small bridges crossing the canals were so low that we had to lay down so the captain could lower the roof so the boat could squeeze under it. Much like the river cruise ships traveling the various rivers in Europe. Our France river cruise was like this. (See that trip here)
Below are scenes from along the canal as we motored along at about 5 knots. It certainly looked like it would be a lovely place to have a home, but just like everywhere else, I bet the price of these dwellings were very dear.
Matsue Castle, A National treasure since 1935
Completed in 1611 after five years of construction, the founder of Matsue, Horio Yoshiharu, used the castle as a clan stronghold. It remained so for three generations. Then the Kyogoku Clan used it for one generation, followed by the Matsudaira Clan for ten generations.
Matsue Castle is more an example of a practical fortress/watchtower than it is of a residence, and was a convenient staging ground for troops in times of conflict. From the top of the tower 360º views of the the city and surrounding countryside can be seen.
The most challenging aspect of any cruise ship bus tour is that 50 people all arrive at the same location at the same time, and are funnelled though en-mass. Elbow room becomes a premium luxury.
Entering the castle grounds required purchasing a ticket from the vendor stall at the entrance to the grounds. But since we were from an organized cruise ship tour, that had all been taken care of ahead of time. So we didn’t have any stress other than just walking up the multiple flights of stairs with everyone else that was visiting during Golden Week.
Once inside the grounds that are protected by these very impressive stone walls, the line up for the actual castle tour would begin. While waiting, there were various forms of entertainment and cultural displays to draw our minds away from the long wait in the rather oppressive heat. Thank goodness for the large, fully leafed trees to provide shade for our relief. Being on a hill also furnished us with a nice, refreshing breeze.
A scene so typical of most Japanese grounds and architecture.
Once up in the court grounds, there is a lot of activity from both tourists, and from the people who dress up in the period costumes for the various re-enactments for the visitors. It was great to see, as it took our minds off the heat and long lineup waiting to enter the castle building.
Along with the entertainment, this area of the castle also contained the ubiquitous souvenir stands and confection counters where you could buy all manner of trinkets and refreshments. For us, however, we were more interested in just getting inside the castle building and getting on with the tour. Little did we know that there were a myriad of stairs and ladders that we had to climb in order to reach the top floor of the building, and they weren’t built to modern day stair rise and run comfort.
Having finally made our way into the castle proper, and removing our shoes and placing them inside the plastic bag provided by the castle, we carried them and ourselves up into multiple levels of the structure. Positioned all about the many floors were displays of artifacts and paintings from a time not so long ago when the priorities of the wealthy were somewhat different from what they are today.
Reaching the Penthouse
The uppermost floor provides views from the castle grounds all the way to the ocean.
After considerable trudging up stair flight after stair flight, we all made it to the top most level of the castle. What a lovely place to have a penthouse apartment, although it wasn’t currently set up for that. Aside from an amazing tactical lookout, it was also cool in temperature because of the large overhang roof and 360º panorama window openings. From here you could not only see the castle grounds below, but also for miles into the distance in every direction.
With the ascent complete, and an eager buss driver wanting to see his working day come to an end, we now had to make the rather intimidating descent down all those stairs. The thing about stairs, going up is never a problem as the next step is above you and in some ways quite literally right in front of your nose. If you stumble, you only fall a very short distance with the stair tread to grab onto right in front of you. Descending is quite the opposite. Not only do you have the intimidation of being able to see a long ways down the stairs, and the hard landing at the bottom, you also have the unnerving knowledge that gravity is going to assist you as you come down the stairs. One slip, and the gravity assist may be more generous than you wanted.
Once out of the castle and its surrounding estate, we made our way back to the parking lot and our awaiting bus. The grand samurai was standing guard so as to protect our transport from any bandits that might stray into the region. Of course, along side him was the marketing billboard to inform everyone of all of the merchant enterprises nearby so we all could go hunting for the perfect keepsake of the moment.
With our day complete we make our way back to the cruise ship. All along the way there are happy scenes like this picnic alongside the road in view of these colourful wind streamers.