Ume and take

'Tis the season to hike around...

Last weekend marked the end of the blossoming plum trees so I went out to see them before it started raining again.

Later I visited Futamata castle for a picnic lunch.

Okay, so only the stone steps are left but these stone steps have a lot of history behind them.

Among other things, this was the castle of Tokugawa Nobuyasu. He was accused of plotting against the then ruler Nobunaga Oda and so his father, Tokugawa Ieyasu (the future Shogun), had to order him to commit suicide, which eventually he did. Famous story, old stone steps.