Second time to visit Kumamoto city in 2023/Carlos Pueblo

 Second time to visit Kumamoto city in 2023/Carlos Pueblo

First time I came to visit the Kumamoto Castle, I noticed that Prime Minster Eisaku Sato was a resident of the city. He is one of the long term Primers in Japanese history and I wish to visit his museum one of these days. Another reason for my admiration of the city is that the city is the birth place of my favorite singer Sayuri Ishikawa. I came from a long railroad ride from Kushiro, Alaska to Kumamoto in one stop at Shin Osaka overnight and still excited to visit the city. Of course, I came for the visit of the Castle and one garden which I had missed in March this year due to lack of time; furthermore, I also like to visit the newly built Taiwan Semiconductor Plant in Kumamoto city.

A hotel front desk clerk instructed me to take the city electric car to visit both the Castle and Suizenji Jojuen Garden. I entered the Castle across the moat and passing by a statue of the previous ruler Hosokawa. The Castle is still under the repair after the big earthquake, yet the twin main castles are still open for visitors. I followed a dry moat now a lovely green valley to another part in order to be closer to the twin towers. It is a Shrine site. I took a seat for a long needed rest from two days train ride. It was in the fall and not as busy as in March when cherry flowers blossom. I decided to go back and was attracted by a large crowds in the field by the Castle. People were watching some kinds of horse riding archery shows. I asked a young lady observer standing next to me about what's going on. She explained it to me that the horse riding archery was more than 1000 years old. I went closer to look more closely and took some posters with explanation. There were three riders repeatedly running back and forth to shoot three targets in high speed. It's all belonging to the fall festival sponsored by the City. The riders are in one of two major group of arch

ery, Takeda, which has been established for more than a thousand initiated by the Hosokawa family.

It's in the afternoon already. I hurried up to take the electrical car to Suizenji Garden which I missed in March this year. The garden was less busy that my previous visit in a spring, yet was still very charming. It's well maintained all ponds, hills, buildings, etc. I could barely walk part of the garden before its closing time at 4 pm. I found one of my favorite spot, the monument of the famous writer Soseki Natsume who was a graduate of Tokyo University and came her to teach English at Kumamoto Advanced High. We used to have one of his novel at home, a Japanese friend left all his library collection to my Dad when he returned to Japan after the War. I was unable to read that novel yet I noticed that Natsume's popularity in the world later on.