Samurai Nagoya: Sword Classes, the Castle's Samurai Performers, Inuyama, and Why This Region Made the Shoguns

The three men who unified Japan in the 16th century all came from what is now Aichi: Oda Nobunaga from Nagoya's Kiyosu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi from Nakamura ward, Tokugawa Ieyasu from Okazaki. Ieyasu built Nagoya castle in 1612 for his son, and his Owari branch of the family ruled here until 1871, which is why the Tokugawa Art Museum holds the largest private samurai collection in the country. Samurai in Nagoya is not a theme; it is the local history, and the experiences are anchored to real places. The Nagoya castle guide covers the site.

The Nagoya Omotenashi Bushotai, a troupe of performers in the persona of the three unifiers and their generals, greet visitors in the castle grounds daily and stage sword performances at weekends; they are polished, they speak some English, and they are free with the castle ticket. The rebuilt Honmaru palace, completed in 2018 in cypress with reproduced gold-leaf screens, is the finest reconstruction of a samurai residence in Japan and the reason to pay the entry even while the main keep stays closed; the keep closure page has the current status.

Sword experiences in Nagoya run from 60-minute samurai-costume sessions with choreographed moves and photos, to iaido and kenjutsu classes taught by practitioners with wooden swords and, for adults, a supervised tameshigiri cut through a rolled tatami mat with live steel. Prices USD 50 to 70 for the costume version and USD 90 to 120 for a taught class with a cut. Several run inside or beside the castle grounds and at studios in Sakae. Children from about six take the costume sessions; the cutting is adults only.

The Tokugawa Art Museum in the east of the city holds the Owari Tokugawa treasures: armour worn by Ieyasu, dozens of swords including national treasures, the tea utensils, and, in a rotating display each November, the 12th-century Tale of Genji scrolls. Two hours with the garden next door. The Nagoya City Museum and the Toyota museums are elsewhere; this is the one for the samurai. Okazaki castle, forty minutes east on the Meitetsu, has Ieyasu's birthplace and a decent museum of his life.

Inuyama castle, thirty minutes north on the Meitetsu, has the oldest original keep in Japan (1537) on a bluff over the Kiso river, steep wooden stairs and a view from the top balcony with no glass. Its old town street below has sake, dango and a small museum of the festival floats. A samurai day pairs the castle performers and the Honmaru palace in the morning, a sword class at midday, and Inuyama in the afternoon; the Tokugawa Art Museum replaces Inuyama on wet days. The Nagoya 2-day itinerary fits it around the rest.