Iwakuni Matchlock Musket Firing

Previously, I wrote about the matchlock musket demonstration we saw during our New Year's holiday to Iwakuni. I finally edited together the videos Becky took to give you a taste of the historical fun.

The Bandit Hearth

Atsushi told me that we would go to a restaurants called “Bandits” on our last night in Iwakuni. He said we had wanted us to go there the first time I visited Iwakuni, and it’s something everyone does when they visit the area. His explanation of it was a little confusing, and we were just expecting it to be a favorite local steakhouse or something.

It turned out to be more like a scene from Spirited Away. The idea is that it’s supposed to be like a secret bandit house in the mountains, decorated with bandit loot and serving extravagant, yet simple, bandit food. We ate delicious chicken and fish on skewers and the biggest rice balls I’ve ever seen.

We ate on the cozy loft of one of the dining rooms, but there were also lots of other places to eat including outdoor spots, where people braved the winter air under heated tables. Beyond the eating areas were souvenir shops, lantern lit spots to walk, and all sorts of surprises that made it one of the most fun places I have eaten in Japan and a place Becky and I hope to visit again someday.

New Year's In Iwakuni

On New Year’s Eve, we enjoyed a wild duck hot pot dish as well as fried oysters. We spent most of the night sitting around the dinning table, talking and watching an annual comedy special.

On New Year’s Day we ate osetchi-ryori, traditionally eaten during the holiday. In recent years, it has become less popular as many of the younger generation do not particularly enjoy all the pickled “delicacies.” At one point Atsushi said he didn’t really like it, and his mom agreed, so I suppose it just gets eaten every year because of tradition!

In the afternoon we went to Kintai Bridge, one of Japan’s top three most famous bridges. Every year on New Year’s Day, re-enactors wearing costume from the Edo period march across the bridge and demonstrate the firing of antique, matchlock rifles.

After the demonstration, we crossed the bridge and had some fantastic lunch at a tea shop. Then we took a cable car up the mountain to see Iwakuni Castle where we could look down over all Iwakuni.