Iga-ueno is a Ninja town. Today we did a 10 train journey (4 to get there, 6 to get home) to Iga-ueno to see the Ninja house with its trapdoors, revolving walls, secret hiding places under the floor, in the roof and in the walls, removable floorboards to hide weapons, secret passages and a whole host of other great features.

We saw a Ninja show where they explained the difference between a samurai sword and a ninja sword, explained the job of a ninja (basically an undercover spy for the local warlord) and threw some ninja stars and scythes. Ninja didn’t actually wear black, they wore dark blue so as to blend in with the local farmers and monks. Many of the weapons were concealed, such as a sword concealed in a broom.

We wandered around Iga-ueno castle, then headed back toward Kyoto.

On the way back we stopped off at Fushimi-Inari, with its thousands of Tori Gates. Yes, thousands. We expected a few hundred metres of them. The trail to the temple, lined with the Tori Gates goes for 4km, with Tori gates every half metre or so. Just incredible. More than any religious site I’ve ever seen, this shows the dedication of the people. It wasn’t an outrageous show of wealth like St Peters in Rome or The Grand Palace in Bangkok. This was about dedication to the cause. Just fantastic, and up there with the most awesome things I’ve ever seen.