In search of a sunset - Bichu Matsuyama Castle in the blazing sun, and filming failed

On a certain day in July, I chose Bichu Matsuyama Castle in Takahashi City, Okayama Prefecture .
There is one reason for this.

With the clear summer weather continuing, I decided to go and aim for the "unohashidate."

In early July 2025, there was hardly any rain in Kagawa Prefecture, and there were days when it was impossible to film footage.
Meanwhile, with the desire to keep the rain in the footage, I chose Takahashi City as the "place where evening showers are about to occur."

■ The aim is "Matsuyama Castle with Thunder and Sunset"

When it comes to Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, famous for its photographs of castles floating in the sea of ​​clouds .
But the opposite was what I was aiming for.
This is a rare situation where a castle is enveloped in thunder and evening sky

Before filming, I used Windy.com to analyze weather conditions.
In consultation with ChatGPT, we checked in advance which weather index would be a sign of a sunset.
It's truly an experimental challenge with weather and video.

■ From Takamatsu to Takarayan by express train "Yakumo"

Departs from Takamatsu Station at 11:10am .
I changed to the new Yakumo Express at Okayama Station and arrived at Takahashi Station around 1pm We will introduce footage of the Takahashi River taken from the car window and a video of the departure scene of the express train and puddles.

■ The townscape that attracts you even without any research

At first, the words "Bicchu Matsuyama Castle" were all written in my mind, but after walking a little around the station, I found beautiful streets that gave me the feeling of the Edo period, such as Konyagawa Street and Samurai Yashiki Street

It was like time had stopped, and I immediately wrote down, "Let's take a picture of this area next time."

■ To the castle... a pretty tough climb

From the station, you can take a shared taxi (fare of 1,000 yen) and reach the parking lot at the eighth station of Mt. Gagyuzan, .
However, that's where the real thing comes from.

The journey to the castle tower on the summit is a 25-minute walk, a rather steep slope . Although it is well maintained, the slope is really tough with a temperature of 35°C. To be honest, I don't recommend it to people who don't exercise normally.

When I finally did climb, there were no one there, and there were about four people who came up after that.

■ And the evening shower didn't come

We waited a few hours at the summit.
I stared at the sky where clouds were born and disappeared, and sent photos of them to ChatGPT for analysis .

But the evening shower didn't come.

At 5pm, we decided to descend the mountain.

Result: Photography failed.

■ I couldn't take a picture, but it made sense

This time's footage was "not as expected," but I could get a sense of
the "before rain atmosphere" of Bichu Matsuyama Castle In other words, this time be checking out .
If the weather is right, I'd like to come and take a photo of Bichu Matsuyama Castle, which is in full rain.

■ Future prospects

Mt. Gugyu is over 400 meters above sea level. If the next rain falls, the entire mountain will likely be covered in fog.
I believe that at that time, we should be able to capture fantastic images.

🐱Bonus: I met Sanjuro, the lord of Cat Castle!

This time I also met
Sanjuro, the mascot of Bichu Matsuyama Castle He was a very gentle and proud cat (lol)