Kakegawa Castle

Last Friday, I visited a castle in Kakegawa, a quaint town just 25 minutes on the train from my town.

I climbed these incredible stone steps to the gate and toured the castle, which was built before 1590. Inside, the castle has 3 stories, divided by stairs as steep as the ones in "the farm's attic"--a house my great-great grandparents built almost 100 years ago in southwest Minnesota.

I also toured a Japanese Garden (with a traditional tea room behind me in the picture) and the Palace Hall, which functioned as a facility for public ceremonies, meetings with the castle Lord, and as a government office (picture on the right).

Kakegawa castle main gate (with enormous wooden doors!), some pretty fall leaves, and another angle of the castle.