Work In Progress Wednesday

I am a frugal person and save the little left over pieces of fabric. I gathered up some of them this week and made some little cross stitched Christmas trees, to be made into ornaments later.

I also made another little huck weaving piece.

Bye Bye Pandas

Today twin giant pandas Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei will be leaving the only home they’ve known, at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, and will be transported to China.The twins are the last pandas in Japan, leaving the country panda-less for the first time in about half a century. They are scheduled to arrive at the same facility in China as their elder sister, Xiang Xiang, tomorrow. 

The twin pandas were born to parents Shin Shin and Ri Ri at Ueno Zoo in 2021. The twins became the last two pandas in Japan after the other four at Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture departed for China in June of last year.

Monday Morning Star Count

Progress, but still not sure how it will turn out. 

Come back next week to see more.

Bitchu Takamatsu Castle Ruins

This castle site is about a 10 or 15 minute walk from the train station. It’s an interesting little park area.

J-castle’s website gives this as the history of this castle - 

The original castle was built by the Ishikawa clan, one of the highest ranking retainers of the Mimura clan in nearby Matsuyama. In 1575, the Mimura and Ishikawa were conquered by the Mori who placed Shimizu Munehara as lord of the castle. During Hideyoshi's campaigns in the area in 1582, he forced Shimizu to surrender (aka: commit seppuku) after he successfully built canals to divert the Ashimori River and flood the castle grounds trapping Muneharu in his own castle. This plan was particularly successful because the castle sits in a relatively wet lowland area and the attack took during the rainy season. The castle was put under control of the Hanabusa family, retainers of the Ukita until it was decommissioned under the one castle per country law.

As I left the castle grounds, I saw this huge torii! I decided to walk toward it instead of going directly back to the station.

I don’t know what this is about.

Okayama Castle

I visited this castle a few years ago, when it was closed for repairs. If I didn’t know it was the same castle, I never would have guessed it!

This is what J-castle writes about it - 

Ukita Naoie began construction of the castle in 1573 but it was not completed until 1597 by his son Hideie. After the Battle of Sekigahara, Kobayakawa Hideaki was given control of the castle but he died just two years later. Ikeda Terumasa's second son, Ikeda Tadatsugu (a grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu), became the new lord of the castle. The Ikeda family continued to rule until the Meiji Period. This was another one of the great castles of the Edo Period but was unfortunately destroyed in the air raids of 1945.

There is no charge to walk around and see the outside of the castle.The admission fee for entry into the renovated castle is 400 yen.

The inside of the castle is new and polished, like a beautiful new museum.

The top floor has views in all directions.