I spent Wednesday morning at Ueno Park and the Tokyo National Museum.

Ueno was a defensive location and temple complex originally built up during the reign of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the Shogun (military head of state) around 1600. The Tokugawa Shogunate came to an end in 1868, when the Meiji emperor moved his capital from Kyoto to Tokyo, and adopted Western ways. Some loyalists to the old regime banded together on Ueno hill, and on 15 May 1868, a battle between the samurai of the Shogunate and the modern army of the Meiji emperor occurred here. Many of the temple buildings were destroyed by the loyalists, but a few remain.

The Meiji turned Ueno into a public park, and honored the Tokugawa dead in 1874 with a small memorial.

Ueno now contains several major museums, and a large population of unfortunate homeless.

The light for photography wasn't very good this day; it was a very bright overcast. This blew out the sky if any shadow detail was to be retained and is relatively unappealing. Therefore, these photos have been processed a bit more fancifully, so that the sky isn't so nasty.


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