Shiroyama Park and Castle Ruins

Early wake up, as usual, breakfast at the house, then we walked down to Shiroyama Park for a short hike. The goal, the castle ruins and not to be eaten by bears, or the other weird creature who is pictured along the trail. And yes, bears are a thing here, even in the city. Japan has been undergoing a spate of deadly bear attacks lately, but we saw a lot of elderly people heading up the trail, so hopefully we'll be safe.

Just in case, though, we'll be sure to ring the bear warning bells they have everywhere. Come to think of it, maybe they're more of a come-and-get-it dinner kind of bell. Anyway...

The park includes the remains of the castle built in 1588 by Kanamori Nagachika, whose family was awarded control of the area by our old friend, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It wasn't long before the Maeda family ended up with the area. However, as mentioned previously, the entire area came under the direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the castle was pulled down.

Nice hike, pretty park, lots of hills and steps.

The rather scary looking other creature on the signs turns out to be a Japanese serow, which isn't some sort of dog-wolf-bear hybrid thing, but rather a "goat-antelope". Sigh. Huge disappointment. And we didn't get eaten by bears.Read more