Haunting Story: Banshu Sara Yoshiki

Name of building:

Himeji Castle

Location:

Okayama prefecture

History of building:

Established in 1346, castle towers were built in 1580 by Hideyoshi.

Description of ghost: 
In 1504 Okiku, a young and clever housemade, saved Onodera, the master of the castle, while Aoyama, one of Onodera's retainers, took over the castle. Aoyama's retainer, Danshiro realized her actions, he compelled her to be his mistress but she refused. Danshiro was so angry that he broke one of ten dishes of his master's treasure and blamed her. He strangled her and threw her body into the old well.

Ghost's activity:
Okiku appeared from the old well every midnight and she counted the dishes in her painful voice, 'one, two, three…'. There should have been 10 pieces but one of them was broken by Danshiro,
so she broke down in tears for missing the 10th dish.

People's feelings:
People were sorry for Okiku. This story spread all over Japan and it became a Kabuki play or Rakugo story.

Entertainments of Matsumoto city

Cheap amusements

Matsumoto city offers free rental bicycles, so you can explore the town with them.
Luckily, it easy to get most of the sightseeing spots, like the Matsumoto castle,
Kaichi elementary school, Agata no Mori park, by bicycle. Then, if you are thirsty,
you can drink fresh spring water which is clean and tasty in the town. There are
some wells in the town. Making a tour round these wells is also popular. You can
get the map at the city information.

If you have flexible budget

Enjoy the tour of the Matsumoto castle. Visiting the inside of the old historical
castle will be an amazing experience and the view from the top is wonderful.
Also there are some interesting unique museums in the city. 

Try high class entertainment

Matsumoto is well known as a cultural city. Some famous festivals, like the Seiji
Ozawa Music Festival, Kabuki are really popular. Many people visit here from
all over Japan in order to appreciate them. If you have plenty of money, you should
try them.

Teruki

Matsumoto Museum of Art

Japanese icons

Nanako's page

In class last week, my brother and I studied about American icons, like the Hollywood sign and the Statue of Liberty. this was easy because we lived in America and we visited lots of places. We loved living in America, and going to school there. We have lots of friends in America.

Yuto's page

For homework we found some pictures of Japanese icons:

• Maiko
• Sensu
• Shamisen
• Kimono
• Sushi
• Sumo
• Shinkansen
• Samurai
• Ninja
• Kabuki

I think sushi is the most iconic symbol of Japan. What do you think?

Nanako (9)