Kyushu 4: Kumamoto Castle 熊本城

Kumamoto Castle was constructed between 1601-1607 but the entire castle above the stone platform had been destroyed by fire in 1877. A rebuilt of the castle was carried out in 1960 and was completed in 2008, based on remaining old photographs and written accounts about the castle. As you can see, the stone platform has two different colored stones, marking the original charred ones from the newly added ones. The curve on the wall was meant to trick samurais into climbing them, only to find out later that it's impossible and unfortunately became easy targets to be shot.
熊本城建於1601-1607年，但是整座城在1877年的大火中被燒毀。日本政府在1960年時，根據舊照片和紀錄開始重建這座國寶。從照片中可以看到基礎的石頭有兩種顏色。下面是較深色，被燒過的大石，上面則是後來蓋上的。牆壁的傾斜是為了誤導武士攀越攻城。武士爬到上端時才發現不可能前進，並成為箭下目標。

You have to take off your shoes, put them inside the provided plastic bags and carry them with you. The purpose is to protect the flooring. Everything inside looked like a replica from those Japanese movie or drama, oh wait I forgot, the whole castle is a replica!
進去之前必須脫掉鞋子，放入他們所提供的塑膠袋，然後提著到處走。目的是為了保護地板。裡面的裝潢看起來好像是電影或日劇裡的場景，喔對喔，一樣都是新建的。

The glittering rooms were the main focus of the castle. Look at all those bling!
閃閃發亮的房間是城裡的焦點。

Even the ceilings were bling bling! (I wonder if it was real gold-plated 21k or just glitzy paint?)
連天花板也是金碧輝煌！（應該不是真的金吧？）

My eyes... ...
我的眼睛... ...

These were some of the art tools and materials that were used to paint the nice paintings you saw on the wooden panels.
木板上的漂亮水彩畫是用這些美術用具畫出來的。

I find crane paintings, such as this, distinctively Japanese.
我覺得像這類鶴圖是日本的象徵。

There's a lower built castle at the opposite and it was an ORIGINAL! At least they have something that survived the fire.
原來對面有一座較矮的城堡，而且是沒被燒毀的原裝！

The original castle showcased old documents and old photographs, such as this, as well as architecture models, which were used as references to rebuild the castle.
舊城堡裡面展覽了舊資料，舊照片和城堡的模型。這些都是重建城堡的重要參考。

I find the new Kumamoto castle too clean and neat, as if I was walking through a movie set rather than a historic national treasure. How I wish my dorm is as clean as that!
我覺得新建的熊本城太整齊，太乾淨了！不像在參觀國寶歷史文物，反而像是在參觀電影場景一樣。不過真希望我的宿舍能像熊本城一樣，如此乾淨！

Lunch at Kumamoto ANA Hotel New Sky :D
午餐在熊本全日空酒店！

They gave us a map of the castle area, how nice! (although we'd already finished touring there)
雖然我們已經逛完熊本城了，但是這家餐廳還附上了地圖，真貼心。

This was the famous Kumamoto dish "Dakoshiru", a kind of soup with soaked mochi (rice cake). It's nice but not impressive.
熊本著名的菜餚是一種有米糕在裡面的湯，稱“Dako汁”。味道不怎麼樣。

Another local specialty was the "Karashirenkon", meaning spicy lotus root. I think the yellow stuff that made it spicy is mustard, or something close to it. Although it looked fancy, I still prefer the good old shrimp tempura.
另外一個本土佳餚是"karashi蓮根”，也就是很辣的蓮藕。黃黃的東西好像是芥末。雖然看起來很花俏，但是我還是比較喜歡簡單的炸蝦。