Today as we traveled from Ichikawa to Utsunomiya, we had the opportunity to make a few stops along the way. These stops allowed us to pick up lunch at a gas station, to dye a small cloth with indigo, and to visit Ashikaga Gakko.

Gakko means school in Japanese meaning Ashikaga was a school we visited. It wasn’t just any school though; Ashikaga is the oldest university in Japan. The school began teaching Confucianism over 2,500 years ago. I didn’t initially realize how long the school had been open. Looking back now while writing this, the age and importance of Ashikaga really hit me.

The grounds of the Ashikaga School Heritage Site were very pretty. We entered through two gates. The Nyutoku Mon Gate was first. Essentially, nyutoku means enter virtue in English, so the gate served as a welcome to the school.

The second gate was called the Gakko Mon Gate. This gate served as the “school gate” (japanvisitor.com). Once we were through the second gate we were inside the school grounds. We saw saw the library, Kanafuri Matsu (annotated pine tree), the hojo (where classes are held), the shuryo (where students loved), the gardens, and many other buildings.

Having the opportunity to visit historical sites like Ashikaga Gakko is something I am trying not to take for granted while in Japan. There is so much to learn about the Japanese culture and I believe I got to do a little bit of that today. It was very interesting to compare the small dorm building of Ashikaga with what we live in at Wartburg. The Ashikaga dorms are really simplistic in comparison with the Wartburg dorms.

I also really liked how the hojo, where classes were held, had such an open floor plan and was connected to the outdoors. I wish our classrooms at Wartburg were more like the hojo.

Following our time at the Ashikaga School Heritage Site, we finished our travels to Utsunomiya where we had a combined rehearsal with the Sakushin High School Band. After rehearsal we met our new host families. I am very excited for the experiences staying with a host family will provide me within the next few days!