Takanabe Lantern Festival

Every year, around the 10th of October, Maizuru Park in Takanabe hosts a lantern festival. 灯篭祭 The festival takes place over two days.

Members of the public light the stone lanterns which can be found all over the park. 

The river of fire towards the top of the park is one of the most spectacular features. 

One area has lanterns made by local children. 

There is also a lantern designing competition and many business submit colourful displays.

Outside of the park are food stalls and entertainment stages. 

Maizuru Koen

Maizuru Koen is the site where Takanabe’s castle once stood. There was a castle on the site since 854 which was initially called Takarabe Castle. Various clans held the castle over the years but it saw most use as the seat of power for the Akitsuki-clan, the feudal rulers of the Takanabe domain.

Nowadays, the grounds are a park which makes for a pleasant uphill stroll though wooded and open areas.

Near the entrance of the park is Maizuru Shrine, one of the town’s most important.

Adjacent to this there is a small café and shop which serves cakes, snacks etc.

From here you can wander on up the path, past interesting monuments and small shrines.

At several points along the route are spots where you can get a good view of the town, right out to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately there isn’t much to see at the very top of the park, but the walk itself is definitely rewarding.

The park is well known for its seasonal flowers with the cherry blossoms in late March and early April being the big draw, but I’m also very fond of the plum blossoms and camellia that can found towards the top of the park in January and February.

There is also a straight path leading up to the main cherry blossom viewing and lantern area for wheelchair or pushchair access.

 Takanabe Town Museum is also located within the park grounds.

There are several reconstructed buildings from the old castle grounds and other areas in Takanabe which can be viewed for free.    

Throughout the park you can see these stone lanterns known as Tourou. In October, the park hosts a two day lantern festival. 

Miyazaki

I’ve been living in Japan for a whole year and haven’t made a single post. I’m going to try and change that this year by introducing some of the places that I’ve been to in the last year. Starting with Miyazaki prefecture where I currently live. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Hiltingbury Lakes

Hiltingbury lakes is probably the best known woodland area in Chandlers Ford. The woods surround several Edwardian water gardens. They are located close to the main town centre, near Waitrose etc.

Two of these form a large ornamental lake which is a popular place to fish.

The rest are smaller and more wild, providing a wetland habitat for wildlife.


I'm very found of the woods around this smaller section as walking through them feels a bit like exploring a rain forest.


Overall the lakes is a short but rewarding walk, especially in Autumn or Spring when the trees are at their prettiest.

Hythe and Portsmouth

Been a bit of a while since I last posted anything here but I have been busy moving to Southampton and preparing to move to Japan in August. From next month I will be working as a JET ALT in Takanabe Town, Miyazaki Prefecture. I'll try to blog a lot more then as well as add to my woods of Chandlers Ford series.


For now here are a few pictures from Hythe, a small town across the water from Southampton which is accessible by a small ferry service.


The ferry goes from Town Quay in Southampton to Hythe Pier, which has one of the oldest still in operation pier railways in the world.


The view of Southampton from other the water really gives a different prospective on the city.


It's also a great place to watch ships traveling down the Solent as the view is relatively unhindered unlike in Southampton were most of the seafront consists of docks.


As a bonus here are some extra Portsmouth photo's showing Southsea Castle in front of which the Mary Rose sank (it's a great place to visit at the moment since it's free of charge) and the cityscape under some very stormy looking weather.

Great Covert

Since I'll be moving to Southampton in the near future, I thought I take the opportunity to do some posts on the woods and sites of natural interest in the area.

The first wood is one of the largest in the Chandlers Ford area, Great Covert. It isn't technically open to the public but a few footpaths skirt the edges. Currently, the main entrances deeper into the wood are blocked but at the time these pictures were taken, it was easier to get into the wood.

The tree are mainly coniferous and there are large clearings dotted around.

The lack of formal footpaths and almost complete absence of other people give the wood a really wild feeling, and I often see deer, unusual birds and, in the summer, tons of butterflies. It's a great place to lose yourself in.

A good way to enjoy the Great Covert and not get into trouble is to take the foot path which leads of castle lane and skirts around the eastern edge of the wood. After a while there is a path to the left which leads into Zionshill Copse, another interesting piece of woodland that I will cover in a future post.

Winchester walking

Last weekend I visited a roman exhibition in Winchester. Afterwards I went on a walk along the Itchen river to the north of the city. I had planned to travel back along the Itchen Way but was stopped in my tracks by a mysterious black dog. Given the long history of the city and its connections to mythology, perhaps it was a phantom black dog of legend?

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