Kyoto Part 2
Uzumasa Toei Eigamura (Samurai Cinema Theme Park)
Day 2 of our Kyoto trip took a turn towards a fun day at Toei Eigamura. I remember going to this place near M’s age so the place has been around for quite a while! There is some similarities to the original Universal Studios park in terms of the site was used for making films and TV shows, then turned into a theme park. The genre, of course, is of Chambara (Samurai Cinema) which is similar to the American Westerns from the 70s and 80s. Instead of dusty saloons, John Wayne and shoot outs at high noon, they featured sword fights, samurais and ninjas.
The attractions naturally center around ninja training and sword play for kids.
Ninja obstacle course to practice sneaking around.
There are a few streets of old style Japan which is fun to walk around. The scenery is probably familiar if you watch a lot of these shows.
It’s all fake, but still puts you in the mood.
The highlights were the live action shows with some sword fighting demos and comedy. The shows are only in Japanese, but the over the top acting and gags don’t need much translation. The theater is also made in the style of that era, so it adds to the fun.
A bit odd in terms of samurai immersion, there was a life size Evangelion robot which you could climb up a bit and take pictures. I’m not a huge anime fan, but I have seen the movie and the TV series, and it’s a pretty big deal in the anime world.
Nijojo (Castle)
One our last day in Kyoto, we decided to check out Nijojo before heading home. While the site used to have a castle, the keeps burned down hundreds of years ago and was never rebuilt. By that era, the feudal wars had stopped and the location was repurposed for fancy residences instead for the Shogun. There are two palaces on site, but one was under restoration so we couldn’t visit it. Kind of a bummer, but maybe in a few years it will be ready for viewing again. However, Ninomaru Goten was open and it was quite impressive and reminded my of the massive residence in Nagoya Castle. A lot of the building has been around for several hundred years, but the artwork and painted paper doors were replaced with replicas. The originals I presume are preserved and some shown in the nearby museum.
I like moats for some reason, there were lots of Koi swimming about and looking to be fed.
An elaborate gate to enter the Ninomaru Goten palace, and one of tour guides we overheard made the astute comment “there must have been a lot of nervous visitors stepping through this gate, on their way for official business with the Shogun.” Unfortunately, no photos allowed inside, but there were many formal rooms for receiving guests, and meeting with the higher ups.
While the original keeps are gone, there are still stone walls and some stone platforms on where the keeps used to sit. A lot of the grounds have been replaced with gardens with more peaceful purposes. There are some tea houses that can be visited as well.
Sometimes it’s not the fancy palaces or gardens that are eye catching, but some shiny pebbles!
There are certainly better ‘castles’ to visit in Japan, Nijojo was still a nice place to visit and easy to access as it is right near the center of town. I feel like we just scratched the surface in Kyoto, and we’ll have to return for the rest of the famous temples and maybe a few off the beaten path ones too. Maybe we’ll rent some kimonos too, and eat a traditional kaiseki meal.
It’s interesting that Osaka is quite close to Kyoto, but the two cities have a very different feel and culture. Osaka being a bit more loud and boisterous, while Kyoto is refined and traditional. We’ll make some day trips soon, it’s only about 45 minutes and a ridiculously cheap 400yen ($3 USD) train ride away!
The hotel we stayed at had a nice French styled breakfast with it’s own bakery. It is also conveniently next to the Hankyu-Karasuma station. I write this cause we couldn’t remember the name of the hotel when asked about it by family afterwards, but putting it here makes it harder to forget.