Kyoto - Day Two
Photography was not allowed inside the palace, however here is the floor plan. Every one of the rooms in the castle has a formal name, but I’ll only address a few of the important ones here.
1) The Yanaginoma (Willow Room) and, above it, the Wakamatsunoma (Young Pine Room). These rooms were used by inspectors to verify the identities of visiting feudal lords.
2) These three rooms are called Ichinoma, Ninoma and Sannoma (literally First, Second and Third room) and were used as waiting rooms for the visiting feudal lords.
3) The Chokushinoma chamber was the waiting area for the Imperial Messenger prior to his meetings with the shogun.
4) The Shikidai reception room was where visiting feudal lords would offer their greetings and gifts to the councilors stationed here.
5) The Ichinoma and Ninoma form the First and Second Grand Chambers in the Ohiroma building where the shogun would hold public meetings with the feudal lords.
6) The Yarinoma (Spear Room) allowed storage of weapons and where warriors could be hidden in case they were needed to protect the shogun as he hosted the public meetings.
7) The Kuro-shoin (Inner Audience Chamber) is a smaller version of the Ohiroma and was used by the shogun to host private meetings
8) And finally, the inner-most Shiro-shoin was the shogun’s private study and bedroom.As Josh and I walked through the halls, we were able to experience firsthand the nature of the nightingale floors. As noted in the diagram above, the floors work by the squeaking of the nails and clamps as they rubbed together due to the foot pressure applied to the floor panels. No matter how softly you attempted to step, the boards would announce your presence.
By now traffic was heavy and the buses were crowded. Josh and I had to stand in the center aisle between the seats as we rode to our next stop. Apparently there are no rules about bus capacity and people will crowd on even if there is the tiniest amount of free space. I figured at one point that we had surely reached critical mass when I saw the true gift of Japanese packing as a family group of maybe 10 people jammed on behind us. At this point, any significant movement was impossible until some folks unloaded. I was so amused by the sight of this small girl who was crowded against Josh’s legs. She slowly looked up and up and higher yet as she craned her neck back until she finally saw the top of Mt. Fuji that is my son. Instantly, she shot her head back down and quietly stood there, meekly staring at her feet, until we disembarked.