This guide covers a day in Iga-Ueno in Mie: the Kintetsu limited express from Osaka or Nagoya, the Iga Railway into town, Ueno Castle's walls and moat, the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum and the Basho Memorial Museum. It takes in tofu dengaku, Iga beef and katayaki, the town's history and the Ueno Tenjin Festival, and a walking order for the day.
Getting to Iga-Ueno and the Castle Moat
From Osaka or Nagoya alike, the Kintetsu limited express does the long part of the journey. The journey is made in stages: the limited express as far as Iga-Kambe Station, then the Iga Railway on to Ueno-shi Station. The times for each stage, and for the walks to the museums, follow in order.
- By Kintetsu limited express, the ride from Osaka to Iga-Kambe Station takes about 1 hour 5 minutes.
- By Kintetsu limited express, the ride from Nagoya to Iga-Kambe Station takes about 1 hour 20 minutes.
- From Iga-Kambe Station, the Iga Railway takes about 25 minutes to reach Ueno-shi Station.
- The Iga-ryu Ninja Museum is about a 9-minute walk from Ueno-shi Station on the Iga Railway.
- The Basho-o Memorial Museum is about a 5-minute walk from Ueno-shi Station on the Iga Railway, the nearest station.
The castle stands on walls of remarkable height. A guidebook notes that the high stone wall of Iga Ueno Castle ranks with that of Osaka Castle among the highest in Japan. The same guidebook records that the castle was built by Todo Takatora, a master of castle construction, and that its stone walls and inner moat survive from his time.
The wooden keep above is a later reconstruction. A guidebook notes that it consists of a three-storey main keep and a two-storey small keep, rebuilt by the politician Kawasaki Katsu. The same guidebook records that on the third floor of the main keep the ceiling holds shikishi, paper squares donated by painters, calligraphers and politicians, Yokoyama Taikan among them.
| Ueno Castle admission | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult (high school student or older) | 600 yen |
| Child (elementary and junior high school student) | 300 yen |
The Iga-ryu Ninja Museum
The Iga-ryu Ninja Museum is about a nine-minute walk from Ueno-shi Station, close enough to take in before or after the Basho stops. Its entrance is a thatched-roof farmhouse among tall trees with a stone name plaque in front, and admission for adults and children, together with the separately charged demonstration show, is set out below.
| Iga-ryu Ninja Museum admission | Price |
|---|---|
| Adult (high school student or older) | 1,000 yen (tax included) |
| Child (aged 4 to junior high school) | 700 yen (tax included) |
| Ninja skill demonstration show, charged separately | 600 yen |
A guidebook notes that a separate ninja experience facility named Bansenshukai (万川集海), entirely indoors, lets visitors try the training of the Iga ninja in a realistic way. The same guidebook describes its shop, Bansendo (万川堂), as a place selling ninja goods, foods connected with Iga and original items that can be visited without signing up for an experience course. For a wider choice, look at ninja and castle experiences around Iga.
Where to stay
Places to stay near Iga, Mie →
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Basho in His Hometown: Memorial Museum and Grave Mound
Basho was born in Iga, and the castle town keeps his memory in a museum, a hermitage and the site of his birthplace. The Basho-o Memorial Museum is about a five-minute walk from Ueno-shi Station, its nearest stop, which makes it simple to place at the start or the end of the day.
An old gazetteer records that a mound said to hold a lock of Basho's hair lies within the cemetery of Aizen-in temple, and that a thatched hall there shelters an old stone carved with words naming it the grave of the monk Basho Tosei. The inscription is said to be in the hand of his disciple Ransetsu.
| Basho Memorial Museum admission | Price |
|---|---|
| General admission | 300 yen |
| Student and child admission | 100 yen |
| Combined ticket for the three facilities (Basho Memorial Museum, Minomushi-an and the historic site of Basho's birthplace) | 750 yen |
Katayaki, Dengaku and Iga Beef
Lunch here comes down to tofu dengaku or Iga beef. A guidebook notes that Wakaya, a dengaku house founded in the late Edo period, serves the tofu dengaku for which Iga is known. The same guidebook describes it as tofu from organically grown soybeans, spread with long-aged sweet and salty miso and grilled slowly over charcoal.
Iga beef is the other local name. A guidebook notes that the number of cattle shipped each year is small and that the greater part stays within the region, so the beef is seldom found elsewhere. Both Dining Bar Cardenal and Cafe Res Hanabusa serve it as a seared beef bowl at the prices below.
Katayaki, the hard-baked local sweet, is the thing to carry home. It is said to have been a ninja's provision on the road, being nourishing, long keeping and small to pack, and the thin version called Usuyaki comes in bags with aonori, which is green laver, or with walnuts. Both are priced excluding tax, as listed below.
| Dish or item | Price |
|---|---|
| Dengaku set meal A at Wakaya | 1,550 yen |
| Iga beef seared bowl at Dining Bar Cardenal | 2,500 yen |
| Iga beef seared bowl at Cafe Res Hanabusa | 1,100 yen |
| Usuyaki (thin katayaki) with aonori, 6-piece bag | 580 yen excluding tax |
| Usuyaki (thin katayaki) with walnuts, 6-piece bag | 620 yen excluding tax |
Castle Town History and the Ueno Tenjin Festival
A guidebook notes that once the Tokugawa had unified the country, the province of Iga passed from the Tsutsui family to Todo Takatora, and that the Todo house held it by hereditary succession. That unbroken lordship is the background to the stone walls, and the walk up into Ueno Park is the place to let it sink in.
An old gazetteer records that Ueno was reckoned the first town of the province of Iga, the seat of the district office and of a middle school, and so the centre of administration and schooling for the whole area. Leave time for the streets below the castle between the museums, since the town itself is what that record describes.
A guidebook notes that the Ueno Tenjin Festival each October sends lavish danjiri floats through the streets and is on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. The same guidebook records that it belongs to Sugawara Shrine, also called Ueno Tenjin-gu, whose principal deity is Sugawara no Michizane. Decide whether to come for the floats or for an ordinary day.
Planning One Day in Iga-Ueno
Ride the Iga Railway from Iga-Kambe to Ueno-shi Station, about twenty-five minutes, and start at the Basho-o Memorial Museum. It is a walk of about five minutes from Ueno-shi Station and fills the first part of the morning. Then go on to the Iga-ryu Ninja Museum, about nine minutes on foot from the same station.
Take lunch in the town, tofu dengaku or the seared Iga beef bowl, then give the afternoon to the castle: the high stone walls and the inner moat first, the keep and its ceiling of shikishi after. Pick up a bag of katayaki before the Iga Railway back to Iga-Kambe. If a single day feels short, there are places to stay in Iga.