On the 27th of March we went on a tour of Matsumoto castle. We had to wait in a very long line because it was spring break and the cherry blossoms are blooming so there were a lot of people. When we went inside our tour guide told us about how the Americans invaded Japan and modernized it so instead of using swords they used guns. When we finally got into the castle we saw lots of guns and cannons. In some areas there were katanas, bows, and samurai armor but most of it was guns and other modern weapons. Our tour guide also told us that the walls were black to scare the enemy and because they used a special sap from certain trees that made it so it wouldn’t burn down as quickly or at all. After the castle we went to a dojo like where the samurai used to practice. While we were there our sensei thought us many techniques like how to unsheathe the sword properly and 3 different ways to attack. There was the horizontal strike, the diagonal strike, and the vertical strike. While we were practicing we got to wear traditional Japanese robes.Another thing she taught us was how to sheath our sword properly because after a battle you might be a little shaky so the way she taught us to sheath our blade makes it so we won’t cut ourselves. After the samurai experience we went to an indoor archery class where they taught us how to use a traditional Japanese longbow. When we got there Nate tried out the shorter bow and he made 5 targets. Finn was also good at using the Japanese longbow and made 3 targets. The longbow is harder to use since the grip is slightly further down and we are not used to doing that. While we were shooting arrows Wells and our tour guide were making paper throwing stars. When we finished our tour the tour guide recommended a few restaurants and dessert stores that he liked. At the end of the day Finn and our dad went ton a run as usual.
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