Let me introduce myself. My name is Yuri Mizobuchi. I was born in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecrure, Japan on December 23,1982.
I am a second year student at Kagawa Junior College in Japan. Our class home page is
http://www.kagawa-jc.ac.jp/~steve_mc/students. My major is Management and Information.
My hobbies are praying sports and looking the movies.
Visiting or living in Shikoku is something special, for this island has always been the spiritual sanctuary of the Japanese people. No other place in Japan has been visited by so many generations of people from all over the country.
They have often spent more than 60 days walking along the whole circuit of the eighty-eight temples that compose the longest, oldest and most popular pilgrimage in Japan.
Even those who have arrived here in weariness of life, in unhappiness or weak health, have usually left the island with a lighter heart, more enlightened, and in many cases in improved health.
Though today the island is quite accessible and traveling around it can be very easy, some of the eighty-eight temples still remain very hard to reach.
This pilgrimage circling the island is nationally known as O-Shikoku-san, showing that "Dear old Shikoku Pilgrimage" is synonymous with this island and provides sanctuary to the soul of Japan. The scenes along the Shikoku Pilgrimage correspond well to what Shikoku offers --- the Seto Inland Sea, the Uwa-kai Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the green mountains that crown a large part of the island, cosy little towns and middle-sized cities that fringe the coasts.
Its climate is mild ; the seas are bountiful ; the land is fertile. Naturally local people have been content with their blessed island, even if it has remained underdeveloped since the 8th century. Until then the northern coast of Shikoku was among the first areas to enjoy civilization in Japan, as proved by so many archaeological findings.
Remote as it was for many centuries, however, Shikoku did not stand aloof but observed movements on the Inland Sea as an artery of Japan's cultural, political and economic development. On the other hand, Shikoku's unique attractions such as the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Kompira worship and the Dogo Onsen Hot Spring spa have always drawn a large number of people from the capitals and other parts of the main island of Honshu and neighboring Kyushu.
Naturally those visitors brought something new with them each time, just as refugees and exiles from the capitals added color to the island's history. They were welcomed and sometimes the culture they brought here was carefully preserved or developed even long after being forgotten in its homeland --- language, festivals, arts and techniques. These cultural assets now peculiar to Shikoku have added another dimension rewarding travelers to this island.
A new type of attraction in Shikoku is the fruit of modern technology that the waves of development have finally brought here in the 1980's and 90's --- the colossal bridges connecting Shikoku with the main island, pleasure resorts, theme parks, museums, skyline drives and relatively inexpensive golf courses. So the charm of Shikoku can rightly be called an exquisite coexistence of tradition and modernity, nature and art.
Last but not least is a spiritual climate of Shikoku that has produced people like the father of the Shikoku Pilgrimage, who is often credited as a father of Japanese culture, the man who aired the idea of the Seto Ohashi Bridge, and two young men who turned out to be most instrumental in carrying out the modernization of Japan, opening Japan's door to the world as an independent nation. They were all rare cosmopolitans in Japanese history. There must have been something inspiring on this island.
We hope this guidebook will help you enjoy Shikoku, and Japan herself seen through Shikoku, finding inspiration of your own by traveling around this small but great island. Bon voyage!
Matsuyama, the largest city in Shikoku, has dominated this area since 1595, when Lord Kato arrived here. The castle he began to build seven years later still looms over down Matsuyama as its definitive landmark.
A large stone monument at the left-hand corner of the JR Matsuyama station plaza reads as follows:
Come spring as of old
When such revenues of rice
Braced this castle town! Shiki
This monument characterizes the nostalgic pride of haikuloving Matsuyama people, three out of ten of whom are said to be haiku poets.
Very few Japanese, haiku poets or not, can visit Matsuyama without remembering Shiki, a preeminent son of Matsuyama, who made this town what is called the hometown of Haiku(5-7-5 syllable verse).
Another nationwide attraction of Matsuyama is the fabled Dogo Onsen Hot Spring. The Dogo Onsen Honkan public bathhouse of distinctive architecture can be fully experienced inside.
Ishite-ji Temple near Dogo Onsen is one of the most impressive of the 88 Sacred Places of Shikoku. It is also known for a gripping supernatural legend deeply imbued with the origin of the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
(By Streetcar) Take the loop line in front of JR Matsuyama and get off at Okaido, and walk about 5 minutes to the "Ropeway" Station or past it to the Shinonome-jinja shrine stone steps.
(By Bus) 10 minutes' bus ride to Shinonome-jinja-mae or "Ropeway"-mae from JR Matsuyama(Oku-Dogo Onsen Kanko Bus bound for Oku-Dogo).
To the hilltop: 15 minutes' walk up the hillside past Shinonome-jinja Shrine at the end of the wide stone steps or 3 minutes by ropeway or chair lift from Ropeway Station.
The three-storied main donjon and a subsidiary donjon fortified with several turrets and gates form a typical fort castle of the 17th century. The original buildings are done except for Inui-mon Gate, some walls and ramparts.
Recently the city has completed an extensive project to rebuild the entire castle. Great care was taken to employ the same techniques and materials as used in the original construction; not one nail was used to fit all the wooden parts together.
The main donjon houses a large collection of swords, spears, armor, documents, works of art snd calligraphy, and mementoes mainly of the lords of the castle- the Katos, the Gamos and several generations of the Matsudairas. Open daily. Admission: 260.
The local enthusiasm for compcsing haiku dates back to 1674 when Lord Matsudaira Sadanao came to govern this province. While in Edo (Tokyo), Sadanao had proved himself a distinguished haiku student of Kikaku, one of the foremost disciples of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the poetic genius who virtually invented the classical Japanese haiku.
People in Matsuyama took interest in the literary art form their new lord brought to them and soon made haiku an outlet for artistic expression in their daily lives. In 1880 Japan's first haiku monthly was published in Matsuyama, with Masaoka Shiki's maternal grandfather among its editors.
In the 1890's, Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) , who had been trying to bring Japanese literature more up-to-date in Tokyo as a student-turned-newspaperman, succeeded in originating a new style of haiku by freeing it from formalism, while fighting a losing battle against tuberculosis. Before his death at 35, he managed to establish new standards for waka (5-7-5-7-7 syllable verse) as well.
Soon Matsuyama produced many other poets who carried on Shiki's shasei realism as Japan's premier haiku poets throughout the modern period that followed, including Takahama Kyoshi, Kawahigashi Hekigodo, Naito Meisetsu, Ynagihara Kyokudo and Ishida Hakyo. They in turn attracted such a large number of haiku poets to their hometown that Matsuyama was dubbed "the hometown of haiku."
Literature-loving people will enjoy visiting these places:
Shiki-do House on the ground of Shoshuzen-ji Temple behind Matsuyama-shi-eki Station is a replica of Shiki's home-a small house of a low-ranking samurai family. Shiki spent his first 16 years there until he set out for Tokyo to study.
The exhibition includes about a dozen paintings he did with the juice of herbs and flowers his sister picked from the garden of his house in Tokyo where he was bedridden for the last seven years of his short life. Open daily. Admission: 50
5 minutes' walk from Matsuyama-shi-eki Station.
Another house associated with Shiki is the Gudabutsu-an behind Bansuiso Art Museum. At the age of 27 Shiki returned to Matsuyama, trying to recover from tuberculosis he had contracted five years before, and he shared a two-storied cottage with Natsume Soseki, a friend from college in Tokyo. It was the house Soseki rented and named Gudabutsu-an after one fo tis pen names, Gukabutsu or Foolish Buddha. Soseki's portrait is now ubiquitous on the 1000 yen bill.
6 minutes' walk from Okaido on the streetcar loop line.
There are 'haiku post' boxes of various shapes and sizes standing in many public places including Matsuyama-jo Castle. The forms to write your haiku, mane and address, are placed beside each post.
Here is an example of an English haiku that appeared in "A Collection of the Best Haiku of the Year" ( the 20th volume) published by the City in June, 1989:
Dyes of blue and white Glimmer in the looms so fast Making summer cloth
Stephen L.John
This alludes to the Iyo-gasuri kimono cloth native to this prefecture.
Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), a haiku monconformist who cast aside all the rules including the 5-7-5 syllable structure, is also associated with Matsuyama. Santoka, an ordained Zen priest, after spending most of his life wandering all over the country as a begging monk, chose to settle in Matsuyama only to die 10 months later.
The humble cottage where he dwelt-Isso-an ( A Blade of Grass Hermitage) is preserved north of Ehime University. His books and documents are also preserved in Shiki Mamorial Museum.
A pop of hail even in my iron bowl ! Santoka
( Tetsu-bachi no naka nimo arare)
A bowl used by a mendicant priest.
30 minutes' walk from Sekijuji Byoin-mae on the loop line.
Iyo-gasuri Kaikan Museum
5 minutes' walk from Kinuyama Station on Iyotetsu Takahama Line.
The museum houses 2,300 items concerning this traditional art of Iyo-gasuri making - the indigo-dyeing and weabving peculiar to this former Iyo Province, designated as a National Folk Art by the government, and enjoying nationwide fame. It has a workshop to demonstrate the art and a shop to sell the products, as well. Admission free. Open daily except December 31 and Jamuary 1.
[ From JR Matsuyama ]
20 minutes by streetcar bound for Dogo Onsen.
[ From the castle ]
5 minutes by streetcar from the nearest station, Higashi Keisatsusho-mae, bound for Dogo Onsen.
[ From Matsuyama Kanko-ko Port ]
45 minutes by bus bound for Dogo Onsen.
Dogo Onsen, one of the oldest and best-known hot spring spas in Japan, was visited by several Emperors and Empresses, noblewomen as early as the 5th century.
From the Dogo Onsen Streetcar Terminal, 5 minutes' walk along the shopping arcade will bring you to an ornate Japanese-style building, the Dogo Onsen Honkan, the main public bathhouse run by the city.
There are two baths - Kami-no-yu and Tama-no-yu. The former is more popular than the latter. Many local people visit Kami-no-yu every day, to enjoy meeting people as well as taking a bath.
To the Japanese people in general, hot springa are not only for healing physical ailments but also for recreation. The alkaline water containing minerals is supposed to be good for rheumatism, skin diseases, wounds and so on.
The drum-beating from the small pavilion on top of the main building is meant as an invitation. The first beating at 6 : 30 a.m. is for evenig bathers. Open daily:
1st floor - Kami-no-yu ( 250 ) 6 : 30 a.m. - 11 : 00 p.m.
2nd floor - Kami-no-yu ( 620 ) 6 : 30 a.m. - 10 : 00 p.m.
- Tama-no-yu ( 980 ) 6 : 30 a.m. - 10 : 00 p.m.
3rd floor - Tama-no-yu ( 1240 ) 6 : 30 a.m. - 10 : 00 p.m.
The carved white heron surmounting the pavilion roof is the symbol of Dogo Onsen.
Legend says that long, long ago a wounded white heron was seen to bathe here as if it knew the healing effect of the hot spring.
Both Kami-no-yu and Tama-no-yu are divided into men's and women's baths, and by different ranks of service such as tea with cake, cotton kimono or private saloon.
The neighborhood of Dogo Onsen has many places of interest. Isaniwa-jinja Shrine, a gracious vermilion-lacquered building, built in 1667 by the then Matsudaira lord, is one of the three best examples of Hachiman-zukuri architecture in Japan.
This neighborhood was the political center of Iyo when the Iyo Suigun seamen led by the Kono Clan reigned supreme from the 13th to 16th centuries. Dogo Koen Park was the site of the Konos' castle destroyed in 1585 when Hideyoshi subjugated the whole island of Shikoku. Its ancient moats and ramparts still remain.
Shiki Memorial Museum in the same park is a literary museum dedicated to Masaoka Shiki.
The modern white building houses a large collection of writings, photographs, vedeos and documents concernig Shiki. Biographical sketches are also provided of poets and writers who helped him with his literary activities, carrying on his shasei realism after his early death.
[ From Dogo Onsen ] 15 minutes' walk southeast along the road beside the Shiki Memorial Museum.
[ From JR Matsuyama ] 15 minutes' bus ride to Ishiteji mae Bus Stop ( Iyotetsu Bus or Oku-Dogo Onsen Kanko Bus bound for Oku-Dogo ).
Ishite-ji Temple offers many things to see, including the main gate ( a National Treasure ), the main hall, the three-storied pagoda, the belfry, the Gomado hall ( all Important Cultural Properties ), and the treasure house.
But to appreciate the temple fully, one must hear the following story:
Long ago there lived in this neighborhood a man called Emon Saburo. He was very rich, but all he wanted was to be richer still.
One winter day a wandering monk came to his gate, prayed and held out his begging bowl to appeal for food. Saburo coldly refused him. The next day the same priest came again, but Saburo angrily drove him away. But the priest kept returning. On the 8th day Saburo went at him with a stick, struck him, dashing his bowl to the ground.
The priest came no more. But on the next day the eldest of Saburo's sons died, and the next day another. Eight days passed, and every one of his eight children was gone, to his grief and horror.
Saburo then realized how wrong-headed and evil he had been. What he had to do, he determined, was to go and find that holy man and beg absolution. Soon he was following the monk's trail, asking for alms, begging for food himself every day.
He went around and around Shikoku Island for four years, but in vain. Having already made 20 rounds, he decided to make one more round in the reverse direction, instead of trying to catch up with the monk. His health was failing, but he had to keep searching. On his way to Shozan-ji deep in the mountains, Saburo fell down, ready to die.
At that moment, Kobo Daishi, the priest he had been searching for, appeared before him. The saint, knowing everything, forgave Saburo, saying his sincere repentance had washed away his sins.
Greatly relieved, the man was about to close his eyes. Then Daishi asked if he had a last wish. He answered that he would like to be reborn as the lord of Iyo, his home province, to have the power to do great good for his people. Daishi picked up a small stone, wrote something on it, and pressed the stone into the dying man's left hand.
Some time later the wife of the Lord of Iyo gave birth to a baby boy whose left hand would not open. They tried everything but they could not open it. At last they called in the head priest of their family temple Anyo-ji. He chanted powerful prayers and finally the baby's hand opened. Inside was a stone and on it was written " Emon Saburo Reborn."
To memorialize this mysterious event, the name of the temple was changed to Ishite-ji or Stone-Hand Temlpe. Believers can see that stone in the temple's Treasure House.
Emon Saburo, who went around and around Shikoku searching for Daishi, is considered to be the first to have made the Shikoku Pilgrimage.
To Tobe / Tobe Zoo : About 45 minutes' bus ride from Matsuyama-shi-eki Station ( Iyo-tetsu Bus bound for Tobe / Tobe Undo Koen)
'Tobe' is an ancient word meaning 'Whetstone-Producing Folk' in the Yamato Period, indicating that this area has long been known for its whetstone production.
But it was not until 1777 that the stone was utilized in producing whta is now known as Tobe-yaki Pottery. Two years earlier the 9th Lord of Ozu Province, anxious to have some local industry to improve the financial condition of his province, had ordered Sugino Josuke, one of the local potters, to make porcelain out of the whetstone chips so abundant in the village of Tobe. Josuke tried hard but in vain until at last he took the advice of a potter from northern Kyushu and succeeded in making the first Tobe-yaki.
The world-famous ceramic artists who visited the town in 1953 - Ryu Soetsu, Bernard Leach and Hamada Shoji - greatly contributed to raising the artistic quality of Tobe-yaki. 23 years later it was finally designated a National Folk Art by the government.
2 minutes' walk from Tobe Bus Stop will bring you to Tobe-yaki Danto Sangyo-kan, a museun that houses a large variety of Tobe-yaki, traditional and modern.
Open daily except Thursday. Admission: 200.
The Tobe-yaki-tiled Path leads to several kilns and a hill that over looks the town dotted with about 80 kilns. The local potters are proud that their pieces are all made by hand. The Tobe-yaki Monument on top of the hill is dedicated to Sugino Josuke as the father of Tobe-yaki.
Togei Sosaku-kan Workshop at the foot of the hill is a must for those who wish to try their hand at Tobe-yaki. Open daily except Monday, Thursday and the day after a holiday : 10:00-17:00.
Tobe zoo ( 1.7 km north of Tobe Bus Stop ) is the best in Shikoku. Animals are loose in the gerden. Open daily except Monday. 300
To Jojusha: [Bus + Ropeway ] an hour bus ride from JR Iyo Saijo to Nishinokawa Ropeway Mae ( No service available from December through March ) + 8 minutes by ropeway to Joju-eki Station).
To Tsuchigoya: a 3 hour bus ride from Matsuyama-shi-eki Station to Ishizuchi Tsuchigoya ( No service available from December through March )
Mt. Ishizuchi ( 1982 m) is the highest peak in western Japan. "Ishizuchi" or "Stone-Hammer" comes from the rocky summit weathered into such a shape. To reach the narrow summit, one must properly outfit for a 2 or 3 hour climb, including 3 cahins up sheer cliffs near the top.
Jojusha Shrine is a branch of Ishizuchi-jinja Main Shrine 0.7 km south of JR Ishizuchi-yama ( Yosan Line). Its neighborhood with observatories and picnic grounds along the promenade is a favorite place for holiday-makers.
Traditionally Mt.Ishizuchi, like many other high mountains in Japan, has been considered a sacred place - an abode of the mountain gods. Ancient Japanese drew no hard line between such gods and their own ancestors who they thought became protective spirits watching over them from on high in the mountains.
When Esoteric Buddhism arrived in the 9th century, it reinforced the older beliefs with more complex lore. Thus high mountains attracted even more worshippers, providing both Shintoists and Esoteric Buddhists with sacred places for their mountaineering asceticism.
Even today during the Mountain Opening season ( July1-10), ascetics and worshippers, formally dressed in white, pay an annual visit to the top of the mountain. The three figures in the small shrine there - Zao Gongen Bodhisattvas - are considered to be thier guardians.
Where to stay: Jojuya near Jojusha: (08975) 9-0032. Tamaya Ryokan 30 minutes' walk from Joju-eki Station: (08975) 9-0415.
This mountain was formerly closed to women. So even today women are not allowed on July 1st, though allowed from the 2nd on.
They are usually enshrined at Ishizuchi-jinja Main Shrine mentioned before. On June 30th they are taken up to Jojusha, to be carried farther up to the summit on July 1st to stay there during the mountain-climbing season.
1 hour and 20 minutes' bus ride from Matsuyama-shi-eki Station to Omogo.
Omogokei Ravine in the southern valley below Mt. Ishizuchi is known for its scenic beauty - multi-colored rocks, falls, deep streams, primeval fores and colorful leaves in autumn. A 2 hour hike between Kammon and Kumabuchi ( 3 km) is very popular.
40 minutes' train ride from JR Matsuyama.
To Imabari Port: 25 minutes' walk from JR Imabari.
Imabari, formerly the castle town of Imabari Province with a fief of 30,000 koku, is now known for towel, textile and shipbuilding industries.
The present castle tower in Fukiage Koen Park ( 7 minutes' walk from the port ) is of modern construction, housing a large collection of swords and armor.
The Kono Art Museum ( 10 minutes' walk from JR Imabari on the way to the port ) is recommended to those who are interested in Japanese art and literature traditional and modern.
The Ehime Bunka -kan Museum, next to the castle, is also worth visiting for those interested in ceramics, as it exhibits a small but excellent collection of ancient pottery from China, Korea and Japan.
Visiting Oyamazumi-jinja on Omishima Island and Kosanji Temple on neighboring Ikuchishima Island on the same day affords contrasting visiting of a venerable Shinto shrine and an ornate Buddhist temple.
[From Imabari] 40 minutes by speedboat to Miyaura Port on Omishima Island.
[From Matsuyama] 50 minites by hydrofoil from Matsuyama Kanko-ko Port to Miyaura Port on Omishima Island.
* 20 minutes' walk along the village street to the shrine.
[From Setoda Port on Ikuchishima Island ] 10 minutes by ferry to Inokuchi Port on Omishima Island when visiting Kosan-ji first.
* 10 minutes' bus ride to the shrine.
Oyamazumi-jinja, a time-honored shrine, is surrounded by giant camphor trees, some of which are well over 2,500 years old. Originally it belonged to the Ochi and Kono families, powerful local clans, and by the 10th century it had become the principal shrine of Iyo.
The main deity enshrined - Oyamazumi-no-kami - was a god of seas and mountains born from Izanagi and Izanami, the mythological creators of Japan. By and by, Oyamazumi began to be considered the patron god of the whole body of Japanese islands, as the tall stone slab beside the torii entrance gate declares.
Thus the shrine attracted such worshippers as Emperors, lords and warriors from Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku. Those who had had their prayers answered gladly revisited the shrine and presented fine offerings to the god to express their thanks.
Most of the over 1,000 objects in the shrine museums were dedicated by those grateful worshippers of Oyamazumi-no-kami. Its collection of Japanese arms and armor housed in the Museum is the best of its kind in Japan, including 8 National Treasures and 462 Important Cultural Properties.
A suit of armor ( a National Treasure ) was dedicated by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and another ( a National Treasure ) was from Kono Michinobu.
The adjacent Maritime Museum contains mementoes and documents of local suigun navies, and books and collections presented by Emperor Showa ( 1901-89 ) as a biologist.
Both museums are open daily.
The admission fee applies to both of them.
One of the most distinctive armor displayed in the Museum is a girl's armor worn by Tsuru-hime ( a National Treasure)
In 1543 another battle was being fought between the Ouchi Clan from Bofu (Yamaguchi Pref.) across the Inland Sea and the local Mshima Suigun navy. Tsuruhime, an 18-year- old girl, a younger sister of the captain of the navy, made herself captain when her brother was killed in battle.
The brave girl in armor ably directed her men and succeeded in driving the invaders away. But when she found that Yasunari, her sweetheart, had also been killed in the last battle they fought, the poor girl had no idea but to follow him. That night she rowed her boat out to sea, never to return.
[ From Imabari ] 40 minutes by speedboat to Stoda Port.
[ From Miyaura Port on Omishima Island ] 30 minutes by ferry to Setoda Port.
*15 minutes' walk along the village street to the temple.
Kosan-ji temple is not only a place of worship but a museum with a large and varied collection of Chinese and Japanese art and about 20 reproductions of Japan's most beautiful building from the classical and medieval eras:
Sammon Entrance Gate is a modern version of the Gate to the Shishin-den Hall of the former Inperial Palace in Kyoto.
Nakamon Gate is a two-storied gate of the same design as Horyu-ji Temple in Nara built in the Asuka Period. The wing called Rakando Hall houses 500 images of the Buddha's disciples.
Reihai-do resembles the West Gate of Kiyomizu-dare Temple in Kyoto built in the Momoyama Period.
Drum and Bell Towers are precise reproductions of the belfry of Shin-Yakushi-ji Temple in Nara built in the Kamakura Period.
The Five-Storied Pagoda was modeled after the one in Muroo-ji Temple in Nara built early in the Heian Period.
Hohozo and Zohozo Museums are of the same design as the Main Hall of Shitenno-ji Temple in Osaka rebuilt in the middle of the Edo Period.
Koyo-no-mon Gate was inspired by the Yomei-mon Gate at the Nokko Tosho-gu Shrine completed in 1646 in Nikko north of Tokyo; thus Kosan-ji Temple is often called Nishi-Nikko or West Nikko.
Shigaraki-den and Shishin-den Halls were modeled after the Amida-do of Hino Hokai-ji Temple in Kyoto built in the late 12th century. The former is used for Buddhist sevices and ceremonies; the latter houses works of eminent artists and sculptors in the Modern Period.
The Main Hall is a reproduction of the Phoenix Hall at Byoko-in Temple built in 1052 in Uji, Kyoto. It enshrines an image of Amida Buddha, with a Kannon Bodhisattva in the right-hand wing and the Buddha in the left-hand wing.
Tahoto Pagoda was modeled after the one at Ishiyama-dera in Otsu near Kyoto, erected in 1194, here enshrining a Dainichi Buddha from the Muromachi Period.
Hakkakuen-do Octagonal Hall is a small replica of the Yume-dono Hall of Dreams, built in 739 at Horyu-ji Temple in Nara, enshrining a portrait of Prince Shotoku, Japan's first Buddhist statesman.
Guze Kannon standing at the exit of the underground Sembutsu-do-Path through Hell is an enlarged replica of the Bodhisattva ecshrined in the Hall of Dreams at Horyu-ji, Nara, a representative sculpture of the Asuka Period.
Ginryu-kaku Tea House is reminiscent of the Silver Pavilion built in 1483 at Ginkaku-ji-in Kyoto, as its interior is covered with beaten silver. On weekends in the warmer season green tea is served here.
Buppozo Museum is a reproduction of the Main Hall of Shin-Yakushi-ji built in Nara in 747. Kosan-ji Temple was started in 1936 by Priest Kozo, a native of this island. The first building was what is now called Choseikaku Museum. It was not a temple building but a beautiful house he built for his mother in 1925.
By that time Kozo, a son of a blacksmith who died when the boy was 16, had become a successful businessman in Osaka, running a steel pipe manufacturing company he started through his own invention of steel pipe making. The house was and still is of rare quality in Japan.
When his mother died 8 years later, the devoted son made himself a priest so that he could serve her properly. Then he decided to build a temple so that it would bring his mother and all other people, living and dead, closer to the Buddha, Buddhism and reak happiness.
It took him more than 30 years to finish and furnish all these halls, pagodas, gates and gardens, while providing school buildings, a hospital and tea ceremony classesto his native islanders. In 1952 the whole temple was designated a museum by the government.
Open daily. Admission: 800
Priest Kozo once expressed his admiration of motherhood in a haiku now inscribed in a tall stone in front of the Nakamon Gate as follows:
All mothers are Kannon Bodhisattvas making this world a flowery spring. Kozo
[From JR Matsuyama] About 70 minutes by special express train.
Ozu, a former castle town on the calm waters of the Hihikawa River, is called the little Kyoto of Iyo, because of its nostalgic atmosphere keenly felt on the southern side of the Hihikawa. In the site of the castle of the 13 generations of Kato lords with a fief of 60,000 koku, 30 minutes' walk from JR Ozu, there still remain four donjons all designated as Important Cultural Properties even though the main donjon is gone.
Garyubuchi Bank at the bend of the Hijikawa and the adjacent Garyu-sanso Villa on a small hill are scenic spots in the town.
*Cormorant fishing can be seen on the Hijikawa, evenings from June 1 through September 20.
*Imotaki - a local stew of taro and chicken - is served on the banks of the Hijikawa in the evenings from August 25 through mid-October.
*The making of Ozu-washi paper is designated as a National Folk Art by the government.
[ From Matsuyama ] 30 minutes' train ride to JR Uchiko.
About 15 minutes' walk from the station brings one to a nostalgic quarter called Yokaichi, which remains as it was one to two hundred years ago. It is under special protection by the Government as a historic monument. During the Edo Period, Uchiko was very prosperous producing Japanese paper and wax.
For 600, one can visit its highlights : the Uchiko-za Kabuki Theater, the Akinai to Kurashi Wax Doll Museum, the Kamihaga Residence and the Soko-kan Fork Art Museum.
In 1891 as a soldier Ninomiya Chuhachi (1866-1936 ), a mative of Yawatahama City, invented a rubber hand-propelled model airplane that flew over 30 m. In 1894 he brought his idea of a man-carrying plane to his army authorities, only to be turned down.
In 1898 he left the army and continued his experiment in Osaka with funds earned as a pharmaceutical campany employee. In 1903 he had almost completed a self-propelled airplane, when he heard the news of the Wright Brothers, which made him bive up the completion of his invention. He turned his genius to several inventions in pharmacy.
* the word hikoki he had coined for his flying vessel is still used as the Japanese word for airplane.
[ From JR Matsuyama: ] About 90 minutes by special express.
The focal point of Uwajima is Uwajima-jo Castle on the wooded hill 15 minutes' walk from the foot after 15 minutes' walk from JR Uwajima Station. It was built in 1601 by Lord Todo Takatora, known for his unusual skill in castle-building, then soon taken over by the Lord Date with a fief of 100,000 koku. The donjon is open daily, free of charge.
Tenshaen, a baronial gerden, and the Date Family Museum ( closed on Mondays ) are within easy reach of the castle hill.
Warei-jinja, 10 minutes' walk north of the Station, is known for its summer festival ( July 23-24 ). It features the ushioni bull monsters' parade on both days and an energetic ritual called hashiri-komi or the urshing-home of the portable shrine out of the nearby river on the 2nd day.
Ushioni monsters are believed to drive away devils and bring well-being to their admirers' families. Another attraction on the 2nd day is bullfights dedicated to the deity fondly called "Warei-san."
Taga-jinja, about 5 minutes' walk from Warei-san, is known for a large collection of lingams, yonis and many other objects used in fertility cults displayed in a museum. Open daily to grownups. Admission : 600
* Tai-meshi ( sea bream and rice ) is especially noted cuisine.
* The Uwakai Sea, quite favorable for pearl cultivation, produces the largest amount of pearls in Japan. That is why the annual national pearl buyers' the only place one can buy local pearls nearby is Inoue Shinju-ten Pearl Shop in the arcade of downtown Uwajima.
Uwajima is known for togyu or bullfights (fights between bulls ) that started over 400 years ago. They are conducted 7 times a year at the bullring on a hill east of JR Uwajima.
As in sumo, the winner is the one that pushes the other out of the ring, and the matches for the day are paired off in ranks.
The fights are held on January 2, the 1st Sunday of March, the 3rd Sunday of May, July 24, August 14 and November 23. They begin around 11:30 and usally end around 3:00. Admission : 2500.
* To the Bullring : 5 minutes by bus from JR Uwajima. ( special buses bound for the Bullring Togyujo )
The coast south of Uwajima City offers a modern recreation area known as Nan-reku. It is the largest of its kind in Shikoku, featuring Nanrakuen, a large-scale stroll-type gerden, best in spring and summer, and Misho Koen ( a park for sports ) with a ropeway across the bay to the hilltop.
The drive or bus ride along the highway shown on the map is entrancing with the Uwa-kai Sea and the rural way of life preserved on the peninsula.
* To Nanrakuen: 40 minutes by bus from JR Uwajima. ( Uwajima Jidosha Bus bound for Nanrakuen, Kitanada, Fukuura or Shirigai).
* To Misho Koen: 1 hour and 20 minutes by bus from JR Uwajima to Nan-reku Misho Koen mae (Uwajima Jikosha Bus bound for Johen/Sukumo).
The pilgrimage known as Shikoku Henro or O-Shikoku- san is the oldest and most famous in Japan. Circumambulating the island via the 88 Buddhist temples designated as the Sacred Places of Shikoku is meant to follow the trail Kobo Daishi (Kukai) walked in his youth for ascetic practice, searching for the Truth.
That is why the authentic pilgrims go on foot as the great saint did long ago. It takes about 60 days to hike the 1,647 km, going deep into rugged mountains, plodding along sandy beaches, rocky coasts, through fields and hills, villages and towns. Indeed, it is a walking Zen.
The shikoku Pilgrimage is nonsectarian, though Kukai was the founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. Pilgrims seem to forget their Buddhist sects in worshiping Kobo Daishi who stands far beyond factionalism. Not all of the 88 temples are of the Shigon sect, either. It is impossible to discuss this pilgrimage without recounting the life of Kukai.
Mao (kukai) was born in 774 in what is now Zentsuji City, the seat of Zentsu-ji Temple, the 75th Sacred Place of Shikoku, as the third son of Saeki Yoshimichi, the Lord of the County. The boy Kukai was so bright and gifted that his parents expected him to go into government service, the most respected profession at the time. When he was 15, he was sent up to Kyoto, the then new capital, where he studied with his maternal uncle, a great Confucianist and tutor to one of the Emperor's sons.
At 18, he entered the university and studied hard.
But soon he was disappointed with the curriculum offered there - the principles of government, history, poetry, fillial piety and loyalty. What he had been searching for was the ultimate truth.
Then he happened to meet a Buddhist monk, who taught him to practice a meditation called Kokuzo-gumonjiho - to invoke Kokuzo, a deity of space whose wisdom is as vast as space, through mantra-reciting one million times according to the proper method - which was to enable him to acquire a phenomenal memory of teachings and principles. This made him choose Buddhism and the priesthood rather than Confucianism and bureaucracy. He left the university. It was a very hard decision for him, because he was turning his back on the tradition and expectations of his own clan. Yet he had to.
For many years he applied himself alternately to the intense study of Buddhist texts and to meditation deep in the mountains. At 19, in a cave at Cape Muroto, the southeastern tip of Shikoku Island, he finally succeeded in attaining enlightenment through performing Kokuzo-gumonjiho. What he had been seeing all the while was the sky and the sea - the Pacific Ocean. In memory of this great moment, he decided to call himself Kukai - Sky and Sea.
At 24, he finished Sango Shiiki, a drama in which he compared the three principles he had already mastered - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism - to demonstrate the supremacy of Buddhism. It was his final declaration of turning to Buddhism.
Yet Kukai was not satisfied with the Buddhism of those days in Japan. He was searching for something like the unity of the Buddha's teachings. Then he found the sutra that presented the Buddha Mahavairocana as idealizing the truth of the universe.
But there were passages so mysterious that no one in Japan could tell him anything about them. So he decided to go to China. At 31 he suceeded in accompanying the envoy to T'ang China.
At the Chinese Capital, Ch'ang-an, the greatest cosmopolitan city at that time, he met Abbot Hui-kuo, the 7th patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism, who had already had no less than one thousand disciples. The moment he set eyes on the young man from Japan, the abbot knew he was the very person he had long been waiting for as his successor. All those years of hard study and ascetic practices had brought him so close to his Chinese master that, after three months of study under the abbot, Kukai was ordained as the 8th patriarch of Esoteric Buddhism.
At the end of the year (805), Abbot Hui-kuo passed away. Before his death, he had told Kukai to return to Japan as soon as possible to spread the teachings to increase the happiness of the people there. But how could he return soon? There were 18 years before another Japanese mission was to come to China...
Then the Emperor of the T'ang Dynasty died and a Japanese delegation came to Ch'ang-an to attend his funeral. Kukai was allowed to join their return journey. It was fortunate for the Japanese to have him back so soon, considering his great achievements in the ensuing years. In fact it was not until 34 years later that another envoy sent to China returned to Japan. Three years earlier Kukai had passed away.
After 16 months in Ch'ang-an, Kukai brought home from China 247 scrolls of precious sutras, 44 scrolls of Sanskrit montras and stotras, 170 scrolls of scriptural commentarises, 9 kinds of ritual implements, and a number of religious images and objects. There must have also been some Chinese works of literature, language, medicine, calligraphy and art. It is generally believed that Kukai introduced measures and rules, Chinese-type medicines, varieties of seeds, as well as the arts of dyeing, of making Indian ink and writing brushes, and of building Chinese temples, bridges and embakments.
He is said to have been the first Japanese to grow tea and process it, to use coal and petrol, and to make Chinese cakes and candies.
He brought all these things to firmly take root in the soil of Japan, gratly raising her religious and cultural standard, until at last she bagen to produce her own Buddhism and her own culture. This accounts for why Kukai is often credited as a father of Japanese culture.
In fact, the first thing he did when he came back to Japan was to reread all those enormous volumes of sutras, trying to unite the two kinds of esoteric Buddhism - Kongokai ( the spiritual principle ) and Taizokai ( the physical principle ) - into one. Thus he finally created a new esoteric Buddhism which he called the Esoteric Buddhism of Shingon.
Kukai was also fortunate enough to have the Emperor Saga, a scholar, poet and akmirer of advanced culture from the Continent, as his patron and longtime friend.
He was granted possession of Mt. Koya in Kii ( Wakayama Pref. ) , where he founded a monastic center for students of meditation. It was also his spiritual home, where he wrote many books of immense value, one philosophies and religions known at that time in the Eastern world, comparing them with his own Esoteric Buddhism of Shingon.
Later the Emperor presented him with a state temple, Toji in Kyoto, as his headquarters in propagating his Esoteric Buddhism of Shingon. It focuses on this life, saying that men and women have the seed of Buddhahood within them, and that by following its precepts and practices, anyone can achieve enlightenment in this lifetime.
Then Kukai founded the first school in Japan open to the poor as well as to the rich. A dectionary in 30 volumes which he compiled for the pupils there was the first of its kind in Japan.
It is widely believed that Kobo Daishi invented hiragana ( the Japanese phonetic syllabary ) and created katakana ( another syllabary ) through his knowledge of Sanskrit. Until then, reading and writing were restricted to scholars and aristocrats who could spend years learning thousands of Chinese characters. Now kana syllabaries enabled even common people to write their language phonetically. Noblewomen also took up kana, producing fine novels, essays, diaries and poems. It was with this kana that Lady Murasaki wrote perhaps the world's first great novel, The Tale of Ganfi.
There are about 3,000 folktales and legends about Kobo Daishi ( Kukai ) told and retold all over the country. No other person in Japan has ever commanded such devotion. Many of the tales are about how he saved people by bringing forth a spring, digging a well, taming an unruly river, divining a hot spring, healing the sick, giving the blind sight, the crippled ability to walk, and so on. These stories are based on the fact that he never tired of putting the profound ideas of his religion into practice to bring happiness to people.
After his passing away in 835, those who believed in his nyujo or entering into a plane of meditation, began to meke the rounds of his memorial places in Shikoku. This is considered to be the origin of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Even today formal pilgrims will start from Koyasan, and after making the circuit of 88 temples, will return to Koyasan via Temple No.1, just as the first disciples of Kobo Daishi did long ago.
In 921 the man who called himself Priest Kukai was posthumously canonized as Kobo Daishi. " Daishi " means " Great Saint, " a title bestowed by the Imperial Court upon Buddhist priests of the highest virtre. " Kobo " means " to spread widely the Teachings. "
There are 23 saints who have been conferred the title of Daishi. But as a popular saying goes : " Kobo made off with the title of Daishi." That is, when one speaks of the Daishi there is no question whom one means. Yet in Shikoku people often call this saint of saints " O - Daishi - san " as if he were one of their neighbors, revealing their affectionate love of him and their belief that he is still here.