Mimir LLC
  • Home
  • Book VR Tour
  • About Us
    • Company Outline
    • Business Areas
    • Our CTO
  • Blog
  • VR services
    • Building Discover Tajimi
  • Contact
  • Collaborate
  • Home
  • Book VR Tour
  • About Us
    • Company Outline
    • Business Areas
    • Our CTO
  • Blog
  • VR services
    • Building Discover Tajimi
  • Contact
  • Collaborate

A 360 VR GUIDE TO TONO, THE HEART OF RURAL JAPAN

Discover rural wonderland virtually, come explore naturally

Hans O. Karlsson

Three decades in Japan behind me. Hopefully a couple more ahead.

Categories

All

Archives

March 2017
February 2017

The Iwamura sake festival - step into a world of smiles

3/3/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
View Fullscreen on Facebook
Drink all you want, but be careful! :-)
The Iwamura sake festival is held yearly by the Iwamura Jouzou (destillery) company in the end of February and beginning of March. Put on your VR goggles and step into this most festive occasion! It is advertised as an "event filled with smiles," and that is certainly true, as you can see. You only need to take care not to bring in any snacks (there was a sign to that effect, which is somewhat amusing), but otherwise you just pay a modest fee at the entrance, receive a sake cup and then you are free to walk around and fill up as much as you like. This is a good recipe for putting a smile on people's faces, indeed!

If you come by train there is quite a long walk up the hill from the station before you arrive at the distillery. Further up are the ruins of the Iwamura Castle, which was once the seat of a female lord, Otsuyanokata, the aunt of Oda Nobunaga, by many seen as the greatest hero in Japanese history. Otsuyanokata became the female lord - or Onna Joshu - of the castle when her husband, a man who had been very close to Nobunaga, passed away.

But this would prove to be the castle mistress's undoing. When the castle came under pressure from the warlord Shingen Takeda, another famous figure in Japanese medieval history, she married a commander of the invading force to save the castle. This infuriated Nobunaga. He stormed the castle and cruelly executed Otsukyonokato and her husband by hanging them upside down.

Onna Jushu - named after the unfortunate mistress of Iwamura castle - was one of the three brands of freshly produced sake we enjoyed this day, and you will likely be able to enjoy next year. The mood is festive, people warm and friendly, and very curious about the rare foreigner who turn up. The smell of good sake fills the whole place, as does the warmth of the smiles of the people of Iwamura, the old castle town.
Picture
The Iwamura Sake Distillery, a company with a history going back to 1787. By Opqr - 投稿者自身による作品, CC 表示-継承 3.0, Link
INFORMATION: Location: Iwamura Sake Distillery (岩村醸造株式会社), in Iwamura, Ena city, Gifu Prefecture. In 2017, the event took place the following dates: February 5, 11, 12, 19, 26 and March 5. For more information.
More on Iwamura and Ena city:
  • Gifu Travel Guide
  • Ena Driving Guide (very informative PDF)
  • The official Gifu prefecture tourism site
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Hans Karlsson

    Envisioning a world without distance.

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2017

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Broadcasting from the heart of Japan to the world

Services

Global communications
Tourism development
VR/Web production
Language support

Company

About us
Company Outline
Business areas
Our VR evangelist

Support

Contact
© COPYRIGHT 2015. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Time difference calculator

We are a Japan based company. Find out the time difference between our and your location.
Our Time and Yours