I suppose that’s about enough words & pictures from around Shimane prefecture. Here are a few farewell shots from the Matsue city canal-boat tour.
Matsue’s plentiful canals connect to the castle moat, and the boat tour, reasonably priced, departs from just outside its gates; a ticket is good for a whole day, and there are a couple of stops along the route. Looking to the right from our vessel, beneath one of Matsue’s many graceful bridges, you can see another canal boat.
The boats looked basic but were actually pretty clever; the top was mechanized to fold down for low-overhead bridges, and there were screens that come up at the sides; we didn’t use those so I’m not sure what they’re for.
The houses along the sides of the canals were unostentatious but pleasing to the eye, mostly, in a comfortably graceful way.
We went by a fellow who was sweeping the cobwebs out of a shrine. There are probably a lot of metaphors lurking here.
The stonework along the sides of the canal was consistently fine; one has the feeling that if we left the planet to the cockroaches this year, they’d still be in good shape in a thousand years.
I’m going to end this little travelogue with a shot of the corner of the outer castle wall. Here I see strength, precision and grace, in harmony.
Thanks for having me, Shimane and Matsue.
