Monday Morning Star Count

 Three more 16 mm - total eleven. I think they are so cute!

Iwakuni Castle and Ropeway

I arrived a few minutes before 9 am and was able to take the first ropeway of the day. It only took a few minutes.

After getting off the ropeway at the top, it takes about 15 minutes to walk to the castle.

Historical notes from the J-Castle website -

Iwakuni-jo was built by Kikkawa Hiroie in 1608. Just a few years later in 1615 the castle was torn down to comply with the Tokugawa law of "one castle per province." The current reconstruction was placed a little bit closer to the front edge of the mountain so it could be more easily seen from below and to give visitors a better view of the valley from the castle.

The inside of the castle is a museum. This was one of my favorite castles of the trip.  It had so many interesting things! 

The view from the top

After taking in the view, I headed back down the mountain on the ropeway, across the bridge, and back to the train station to go to the next place.

Kintai Bridge

In many of the rural areas I traveled on this trip, the train options were few, so I had to be very careful.

      Photo from Japan guide.com

                                                      1856 woodblock print by Hiroge

The Kintai Bridge is a historical pedestrian bridge, originally built in 1673, with five arches spanning the Nishiki River. It was designated a national treasure in 1922, and remained intact until 1950 when it was washed away in a flood from a typhoon. It was rebuilt and finished in 1953.

This is the ticket booth. I bought a combined ticket - cross the bridge, take the ropeway up to the castle, enter the castle, take the ropeway down, and recross the bridge. 

This photo was taken after the first ticket to cross the bridge was removed.

The castle can be seen high on the mountain.

On the other side of the bridge, I walked around and headed to the ropeway.