Obuse is a recommendation from our ryokan host and the biggest concern that we have is whether we will be able to find a parking spot. Fortunately we find one right downtown in the Central Square from which we start exploring the city.
As it is not yet raining we start by exploring the narrow side streets and one of the things that Obuse is famous for, its private gardens. Some of them are open to visit and they are well maintained and beautiful.
The shops are mostly closed, unfortunately, we are specifically looking for the two things Obuse is known for, plums and chestnuts.
With some searching following the cobblestone streets and lots of luck we still find a few stalls selling the famous Obuse plums so we buy a few and try them, they are quite good and worth the search.
Suddenly however it starts sprinkling and soon it is a flood so we run to the closest museum to us, the Chinami Gallery. There we discover that we can buy a combo ticket for three local museums and decide to do just that. Chinami Gallery has exhibits of modern Chinese artists and they are interesting and informative however the gallery is relatively small with only 2 exhibition rooms.
As we go outside we notice that the rain stopped so we walk fast to the next museum on the combo the Hokusai Museum which is the most well known of the museums in Obuse. Hokusai while relatively little known outside Japan is considered to be one of the greater artists in Japan and the museum is full of his work of arts be it woodblock prints, illustrations of books or paintings of festival floats. It is quite interesting and good as an introduction to Japanese Art but unfortunately no photos are permitted.
Our next stop is the last museum on the list, the Takai Kozan Museum. Takai Kozan was a wealthy merchant that brought Hokusai to Obuse and the Museum is his house with a few of paintings. While it is not raining we explore the garden first and it is beautiful and we enjoy it.
You can also go inside, after you remove your shoes, and explore the interior which is sparsely decorated, at least compared to Western mansions.
There are however a few trapdoors and hidden tunnels that could be used to escape if the shoguns soldiers would come to arrest Takai Kozan. These were needed as Tokai Kozan used the room for political meetings that were not necessarily friendly to the shogun and therefore needed a place to hide participants in case of a search.
Before leaving Obuse we have to taste another thing that it is known for, its chestnuts. We have better luck with them compared to the plums, there is a sweets shop right in the Central Square which is open. So we enter it and order with a bit of guessing two sweets with chestnuts and they are both tasty and we really like them. And then it is time to leave Obuse and make our way back to the accomodation.
On the way we decide to stop in an Aeon supermarket we have noticed on the way to Obuse, it is Walmart like in size with lots of different products but mostly focused on clothing. After making a survey of prices and styles we return to the hotel for our homemade dinner and then we go to sleep as we are really tired after this long and interesting day.
