Where Samauri had tea

Where Samauri had tea | Aizu, Japan

When I think of castles, I usually think of stone turrets. portcullis and battlements so I was quite surprised when I saw a white wooden castle looming in the distance. Of course Japanese castles would look different from British ones, I just had never thought about it before.

I visited Tsurugajo Castle in Aizu Wakamatsu which was once a stronghold for Samauri. Built in 1384, the castle was home to the feudal lords who ruled the area. However, it was destroyed in 1868 during a rebellion that marked the end of the feudal era. The castle that stands today is actually a 1960s replica but is impressive nonetheless. I climbed to the top of the castle and got a feel for how the feudal lords felt surveying their kingdom.

In the castle grounds there is the adorable Rinkaku tea cottage which was built by Sen no Shoan specifically for tea ceremonies. In fact, his father invented the ritual that we know today as the tea ceremony.

Nowadays they offer a simplified ceremony. I was shown to a gorgeous wooden room that looked out onto a tranquil Japanese garden. I was given a bowl of bright green matcha accompanied by a sweet called manju. These sweets are sticky dough filled with very sweet red bean paste. Matcha is already bitter so the manju brought out the sharp taste even more. Matcha is certainly an acquired taste, to me it was like drinking really strong grass but the other Crumbs to Crunch sister loved it! Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed our little tea ceremony, imagining the feudal lords sipping their matcha in the same place.

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