"I'll Take Swords for 400"

~Inside of the castle at Yukyuzan park was a history museum with artifacts from Nagaoka's past. Here are pictures of some of the more interesting items in the museum (text in quote marks comes from the displays):

Above: "The sword carried by Yamamoto Tatewaki, a leader of the Nagaoka forces." If you click on the picture to expand it, you can make out intricate engravings on the blade. Note that this sword lacks a built-in guard near the hilt; the guard must be attached seperately.

Above: "A line-up of top officials of the Nagaoka domain at New Year, taken within the snow-covered castle grounds. The daimyo is in the center, sitting on the camp stool." A daimyo (pronounced "dime-yo") was a feudal Japanese ruler whose positon was inherited, life-long, and unelected.

Above: "The kabuto (hemlet) worn by the 9th daimyo Makino Tadakiyo."

Above: This is one of a series of scroll-paintings by the same artist, all featuring strange, surreal dragon-monkey-creatures playing games. I wonder who's winning? I think the guy on the right is saying, "Checkmate, fool!"

Above: A map of feudal Nagaoka. I'll bet none of the streets had names back then, either.

Above: Now, you might be thinking, "Sure, the guys are well-drawn, but the artist forgot the background." You'd be wrong. The men are in fact walking on snow. Invisible snow. In front of an invisible castle.

Above: The impressive hilt of a sword. The sword itself is less impressive and I doubt it would take more than one hit from the sword in the first picture.

Above: This is not a prop from The Last Samurai (starring Tom Cruise, Tom Cruise, and Tom Cruise). This artillery piece is the real thing. It reminds me of this:


Above: The blade of what must have been a very wicked weapon. You don't want to be on the receiving end of this.

The castle itself is an artifact of a sort; it's actually a reconstruction of a real castle that was destroyed during Japan's civil war in the 1860s (the original castle was located on the current site of the city's train station):

For those of you interested in history (I'm looking at you, Dad), war broke out between factions loyal to the Shogun (Japan's military ruler) and factions wanting to restore the Emperor to power. Nagaoka's feudal rulers suppored the Shogunate, which was ultimately defeated; the city itself was destroyed almost completely (only to be leveled again by B-52s during World War II. And did I mention last year's earthquake and North Korean Missile test?).

~That's all for now. Coming soon: pictures of Nagoka, since I know that you're all curious. Comments welcome and appreciated.