We were only on land for a few hours today; our first stop was Matsue Castle, built in 1611 by Horio Yoshiharu as a stronghold for feudal lords, not as a gracious residence.

Today, it is a National Treasure and a popular tourist spot, complete with gardens, trees, and a Shinto shrine.

Of course, they also have the necessities for tourists.

Our second stop was the Adachi Museum of Art, which has a great collection of modern Japanese art and a truly awe-inspiring set of gardens. The building is designed to let you enjoy the gardens along with the art. The art was nice, but the gardens were spectacular, so I’m glad they allow photography of the gardens!

We returned to the ship, cleared passport control, and are sailing to Busan, South Korea for tomorrow’s visit.

We anchored at [Hagi], a small city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, during breakfast. They don’t get a lot of Western tourism; the mayor greeted our tender! He was carrying a sign saying “I am Fumio Tanaka, the Mayor of Hagi. Ask to have your picture taken with me.” How could we refuse?

We made three stops in Hagi, each focused on a different aspect of the city’s culture and history. The first stop was the Tokoji Temple, which was constructed for the Mori clan, one of the leading samurai clans – and unfortunately for them, on the losing side of the civil war which ended with the consolidation of power under the Tokugawa shogunate. They were “relocated” to Hagi after the war.

Our second stop was the Kikuya Residence, which was the home of the Kikuyas, the official merchant family to the Mori clan.

Our final stop in Hagi was the Hagi Uragami Museum, which focuses on ukiyo-e prints and East Asian ceramics (especially Hagi pottery). Unfortunately, the ukiyo-e print galleries wwere closed today, but there was a special exhibition of all the prints from Utagawa Hiroshige’s “Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji”, as well as beautiful pottery.

And then it was back to the ship to sail away towards tomorrow’s adventures.