Let me introduce myself My name is Kana Takeuchi. I was born in Takuma town , Kagawa Prefecture , Japan on January 28, 1985.
I am a first years student at Kagawa Junior College. My major is Elderly Care Social Work.
My hobbies are reading books, using my computer, and listening to music.
My homepage address is http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLife-Labo/4001/2004/003012.html
Kumi Tomiie Sayaka Kaji Ayako Takeshita Chiaki Hirose Miku Tojo Itumi Muguruma
Tsuyoshi Oogami Masaya Nakamura Yuta Sakai
English-Japanese Vocabulary
Quizzes
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 Island 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 assents 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, museum, skyline drines and relatively inexpensive golf courses. So the charm of Shikoku can rightly be called an ewquisite 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 instumental 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 inspring 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!
Especially Noted Products: raw and dried bonｙ to, coral crafts, long -tailed cocks, Tosa native dogs and Tosa fighting dogs.
Especially Noted Cuisine : Sawachi-ryori and Katsuo no Tataki ( bonito to seared only on the surface)
Kochi, the largest city on the Pacific coast, is the capital of Kochi Prefecture, especially known for its marine products, forestry and greenhouse culture of vegetables. The fishing ports dotted along the Pacific coast are usually busy with small boats that bring in bonito and mackerel from the warm current offshore, and sometimes with big boats that have made six- or seven- month voyages after tuna into the Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, even the Atlantic.
Men in this prefecture have long been known for a trait called igosso. When a man is called igosso, it means he is gallantly generous, obstinately independent, carefree and passionate in his usually unpredictable actions. Woman of the same type are called hachikin.
Kochi was also a castle town. The approach to the castle gate is liveliest on Sundays as the 3-century- old Sunday Market is held there, the 1.2 km avenue lined with hundreds of stalls stocked with every kind of local product imaginable - vegetables, fruits, flowers, trees, raw, dried or cooked fish, coral crafts, toys, knives, antiques, old clothes, china, earthenware, kittens, puppies, granny's pickles, cookies, candies, rice cakes, pancakes and sundry items.
5 minutes' walk from JR kochi Station to the entrance of Sunday Market.
Kouchi-jo Castle came into being in 1588 when Chosokabe Motochika, who once subjugated the whole of Shikoku, built his castle here on top of the hill. In 1600 Yamanouchi Kazutoyo took over the castle, rebuilt it, and 16 generations of Lords Yamanouchi reigned until 1869 when the Province was officially returned to the Emperor Meiji.
The Otemon Main Gate built in 1603 still stands. The statue seen on entering the gate is that of Itagaki Taisuke, leader of Japan's popular right movement. The other buildings- the highest donjon, turrets and gates- also retain their original style, though they were rebuilt around the middle of the 18th century.
The donjion houses a museum exhibiting a large collection of mementoes of the Yamanouchi Family avd historical assents of the province, with one wing dedicated to local people who in the 1860's became a driving force in overthrowing the Shogunate and restoring imperial rule.
Tosa was at the vanguard when Japan was at this critical turning point in her history. The 15th lord of Tosa Province, Yamanouchi Yodo for his part presented the Shogun a pretiton for the peaceful restoration of imperial rule. As the Shogun accepted it in 1867 a bloodless transference of the reins of government was tentatively achieved though its aftermath, the Boshin Civil War, was far from bloodless.
At the entrance hall of museum, there are some exhibitions concerning two of the favorite sons of Tosa Province - Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro.
One of the captions is quoted from the postscript to vol.1 of Ryoma ga yuku , a biographical novel of Sakamoto Ryoma, written by a leading novelist of contemporary Japan, Shiba Ryotaro:
Sakamoto Ryoma can rightly be called a miracle in the history of the Meiji Restoration. All the heroes who appeared in those days can be classified into categories.Only Ryoma cannot. He stood alone even among thousands of revolutionaries in that period. It was a miracle in itself, too, that Japan happened to have this young man at that turning point in history. If the Unseen Hand had not been so timely, Japan might have had a different history.
Indeed, only a few Japanese have been admired so much asa Ryoma. He was the archetypical igosso, who was born in 1835 in downtown Kochi as a son of a wealthy samurai.
At 19 he went up to Edo to sharpen his swordsmanship. But in July of that year, Edo and its vicinity were thrown into chaos: Commodore Perry of the United States arrived at Tokyo Bay, demanding the Tokugawa Shogun sign a treaty. Japan had maintained a national isolation that followed was unprecedented in the history of this country. Ryoma was simply a bewildered observer at that time.
In 1858 he returned to Kochi as an acknowledged swordsman. Then he met Kawada Shoryo, an artistscholar, who was already well-informed about foreign affairs through acquaintance with John Manjiro. Shoryo inspired Ryoma with a vision of modern Japan as a nation fortified against Western colonialism.
In 1862 he returned to Edo after disenfranchising himself of goshi status in his home province. Soon he came to know Katsu Kishu, the Shogun's Commissioner of the Warship Department. Katsu was among the most knowledgeable of internal and external affairs at that time. Two years earlier he had been to America as the captain of the first Japanese boat to cross the Pacific, when the Shogun sent a delegation to Washington to conclude a treaty of friendship and commerce with the U.S.A. He was a man of foresight, too, curiously unselfish and detached from the Shogunate he served.
Ryoma offered himself as Katsu's assistant and learned under him Western navigation and studies including political science, philosophy and law.
Katsu also introduced Ryoma to his colleagues and frinds. Some of them were progressive scholars or thinkers; others were politically influential. The latter turned out to be instrumental when Ryoma began to carry out his revolutionary plans.
First he started a trading corporation with some of the former students of the Navy Training Institute, established by Katsu in 1864 but closed the next year when it was suspected of being " a den of radicals" and Kastu was dismissed.
Now Ryoma knew ships were his passion and that the future of Japan was on the sea-- in trading . To begin with, Ryoma appoached the Satsuma Clan for a schooner, setting up a corporation in Nagasaki with the Satsuma Clan as a major shareholder. This was Japan's first joint stock company.
His second plan was to include the Choshu Clan as another shareholder. Satsuma and Choshu had been hostile to each other, but if united, they could be a now turning to a European colonialist to subjugate Choshu first and then other revolutionary clans.
Ryoma, with his trading company uniting them, made Satsuma and Choshu into allies. From a merchant marine, the company thus developed into the first de facto modern navy in Japan.
His next idea was to have someone bring forward a motion to the Shogun for the Restoration of Imperial Rule. Ryoma brought his Eight -Point Plan to Goto Shojiro, Chief Secretary of Lord Yamanouchi Yodo in Tosa, his home province. Goto felt it could be acceptable not only to the Emperor but also to the Tokugawa family if not the Shogunate itself.
In fact, his Plan, slightly revised by Goto, did prove to be acceptable to all sides including Lord Yamanouchi who agreed to present the motion in his own name. On October 15, 1866, the Shogun Yoshinobu adopted it to avoid a great deal of further bloodshed.
That very night Ryoma planned how to organize a provisional government for the new era to come. The next day he produced a list of cabinet personnel.
At first they were surprised not to see the name of Ryoma himself on the list. Wasn't he the leader of this revolution? When asked why, Ryoma simply answered, " I am not interested in working in an office. I think I'll go back to sea -- the seas of the world."
Yet he stayed busy guiding the Meiji Restoration and planning the new government. But a month later, on November 15, on his 33rd birthday, Ryoma was assassinated in Kyoto.
Before his untimely death, however, Ryoma seemed to have done everything he thought he had to. The administrative policy he had prepared was willingly adopted by the new goverment.
The Five-Point Imperial Oath delivered by Emperor Meiji in 1868, in effect the first constituion of modern Japan, was derived from the Eight- Point Plan Ryoma had made two years bofore.
Here comes another iggoso, Itagaki Taisuke (1837-1919). During the BOshin Civil War, Itagaki led his Tosa legion to subjugate the pro- Shogunate clan of Aizu(Fukusima Pref.).
During the battle he keenly felt the necessity for the equality of people, when he saw only the privileged class of warriors upholding the Aizu cause in that test of loyalty. The other classes, who had long been left in the cold, simply fled. Itagaki said to himself, "It's only natural;only where there are right is there duty."
A few years later when Itagaki retired from the cabinet in Tokyo, he started working to implement the First Article of the Imperial Charter Oath delivered by Emperor Meiji - "Deliberative assemblies shall be established on an extensive scale, and all measures of goverment shall be decided by public opinion."
In 1873, he and other members of the Aikoku KOto Party- the first political association of the Meiji era - presented a resolution to the goverment, requesting the establishment of a parliamentary government, but without success. He returned to Kochi and estabilished the Risshi - sha society to propagate democratic principles, a pioneer among political societies emerging at thet time.
By 1881 the national movement for democratic rights had reached its zenith and finally obtained the goverment's pledge to inaugurate a National Assembly in 1890.
But when the first Deliberative Council was finally aseembled and the Liberal Party was reorganized, it had already lost its original spirit. To the frustration of Itagaki, it was difficult for liberalism, especially in politics, to take root in Japan.
Yet Kochi is regarded as the birthplace of Japan's Movement for Democratic Rights. It was also in this prefecture, in the town of Kamimachi in 1880, that woman first acquired suffrage, 65 years earlier than woman in the rest of the country, who attained it in 1945 only after World War II.
There is the Memorial Museum of this Movement for Democratic Right, Jiyuminken Kinenkan, on the Sambashi - dori near the ferry port.Open daily except Monday and days after national holidays.
Halfway up yhe castle hill by the stone steps are statues of a woman and a big horse.She is the wife of Yamanouchi Kazutoyo, widery known as " a model of an exemplary wife."
In one well - known episode, when her husband was still an unknown young samurai in Owari (Aichi Pref.), she heard he was anxious to have a fleet steed but could not afford it, and promptly produced a sufficient cache of money she had carefully saved.
By virtue of that wonderful horse, Kazutoyo's readiness to help his master was first recognized by Oda Nobunaga, ultimate victor of the long Civil war from 1477 to 1573. Kazutoyo continued his successful career until he was appointed Lord of Tosa of 240,000 koku , the largest in Shikoku.
Naturally many wives in Japan still like to cite " Yamanouchi Kazutoyo's wife" to justify their secret savings.
Chosokabe Motochika (1533-99), like many other warlords in the Civil War Period that lasted about a century from the close of the 15th Century, fought for his autonomy and for the increase of his fief until he finally subjugated the whole island of Shikoku(1584).
But soon he had to fight against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the successor to Oda Nobunaga as unfying the country. When Motochika was defeated, he had to give up all the Lands he had invaded- Awa, Sanuki and Iyo. And it wasonly by helping Hideyoshi subjugate kyushu that Motochika was formally appointed Lord of Tosa.
Soon after his death, however, his heir Motochika fought a losing battle against the Tokugawas at Sekigahara, only to be deprived of his fief. In 1615 he was killed during the Tokugawas' siege against Oska Castle. This spelled the end of the Chosokabe eminence.
When Yamanouchi Kazutoyo became Lord of Tosa, he brought his own samurai called goshi from Tosa were among the main forces to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate.
25 minutes' bus ride from Seibu Terminal (Tosa Dentetsu Bus bound for Chikurinji).
Chikurin-ji Tenmple, situated on top of Godaisan Hill, is one of the biggest of the 88 temples. The main image, Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom and intellect, and 19 other Buddhist images in the treasure house are all Important Cultural Properties.
Just next to the temple is Makino Botanical Gerden, a 30,000 garden with 1,200 sprecies, bulit in memory of the world-fanous botanist Makino Tomitaro. he was an igosso, too. The self-taught man spent his life traveling to every corner of this country, making a collection of no less than 400,000 specimens, discovering and naming about 1,000 new species, and writing a number of books containing his own precise illustrations. Makino Bunko Library in the Garden houses 42,000 volumes from his library, part of which is open to the public. Open daily except December 28 January 3. Admission:350 yen
30 minutes' bus ride from Harimaya-bashi (Kochi-ken Kotsu Bus bound for Katsurahama)
For Ryoma Kinen-kan Memorial Museum, get off at Hotel Keishokaku mae Bus Stop.
This beach on the Pacific Ocean is among the most popular in Shikoku. The Shell Museum near specimens. Open daily.Admission: 500 yen.
The Aquarium on the beach is another attraction. Opne daily. Admission: 950 yen(High school studeants: 600 yen)
Looking over the ocean is a statue of Sakamoto Ryoma erected in 1928 by Ryoma admirers on top of a small hikk near the Tosa Fighting Dog Center. On another hill behind is the Ryoma Memorial Museum, which was also funded by Ryoma admirers all over the country. High technology is utilized in various ways to introduce his dramatic life.
Open daily. Admission: 350 yen
Another museum dedicated to Ryoma is the Ryoma Wax Doll Museum that features the 25 scenes from his life. As to how to get there, seep.135.
Near Katsurahama Bus Stop there is the Tosa Fighting Dog Center where a dog fight is shown when they have an audience of 30 or more. (1000yen).
Kochi Prefecture is known for the two types of dog - the native Tosa Dogs as a Natural Monument and the Tosa Fighting Dogs, crossbreeds of the native dogs with mastiffs, bulldogs and St. Bernards.
Here dogs are carefully trained and the game is conducted under strict rules.
A dog that whines or turns its hind to the opponent is judged the loser.
Like sumo wrestlers, the dogs are graded into a hierachy according to the point they have recently earned.
The long-tailed cocks called onaga-dori exhibited in another corner are also peculiar to this prefecture. The tail of a full grown cock reaches as long as 6 m. How this species came into being is unknown.
[From JR Tosa Yamada on Dosan Line]
25 minutes' bus ride (JR Bus bound for Ryugado).
[From Kochi]
An hour bus ride from Seibu Terminal in Kochi (Tosa Dentetsu Bus bound for Ryugado).
For the Ryoma Wax Doll museum, get off at Otani-bashi in Noichi-cho.
Ryugado Stalactite Grotto deep in Mt. Sampo is one of the biggest three of its kind in Japan. Visitors are guided along a 1 km path, about a quarter of the whole grotto, thought to be 150,000,000 years old.
For those who are not claustrophobic, stalactites of various shapes and sizes highlight a narrow maze where falls resound and streams murmur. There are about 100 animal species living in the darkness - bats, shrimp, crads and so on.
When the grotto was discovered in 1931, they found not a few relics from the Yayoi Period(roughly 300 B.C.-300 A.D.). In one corner, more than a dozen earthenware vessels remained almost intact, together with some stoneware, animal bones and shells. Another corner had a water jar to collect water dripping from above - now a stalactite.
Open daily :8:30-16:30 Admision: 850 yen.
A small museum outside the cave displays the finddings from the ancient dwelling along with animals, plants and fossils found in the neighbor - hood. Admission free.
[From JR Kochi] 2 hours by special express(Dosan Line + Tosa Kuroshio Railroad).
Situated on the Shimanto, the largest river in Shikoku, the city is known as Little Kyoto because of its origin, its checkered street and places named after those in kyoto. The origin of the city dates back to 1468 when Ichijo Norifusa, the former Chief Advisor to the Emperor, chose to live here, taking refugu from the Onin Civil War in Kyoto.
When Norifusa bacame Lord of Tosa, teh small villiage of Nakamura was made the capital of the Land of Tosa and remained so for about a century until 1573 when Chosokabe Motochika banished Lord Ichijo's descendents to Kyusyu.
Ichijo-jinja Shrine built at the site of the residence of the Itijo family, Fuwa Hachiman-gu Shrine and Taihei-ji Temple are among the historic spots remainig from the heyday of Nakamura. A most spectacular Gion-jinja was also started by Ichijo Norifusa.
Tamematsu Koen Park, laid out on the former site of Nakamura-jo Castle built by Lord Tamematsu before Ichijyo Norifusa arrived, now features a local historic museum housed in a newly-built donjon. The museum displays mementoes of the Ichijo family, historical assets of this neighborhood and some writings and belongings of kotoku Syusui, a native of Nakamura and another igosso who led Japan's first pacifist-socialist monemnt.
The Dragonfly Reservation and Museum represents the local people's will to keep the Shimanto - the last unpolluted river in Japan - as it is.There are over 70 varieties seen in summer and early autumn. Open daily except Monday.Admission: 400 yen (High school students: 300 yen)
15 minutes' walk after 15 minutes' bus ride from Nakamura Station to Godo Bus stop.
The Onin Civil War fought between 2 groups of the Muromachi Shogun's vassals and warriors reduced Kyoto to ashes, starting the Civil War Period that lasted about 100 years.
Kotoku Syusui: As a boy he took part in the national monement for democratic rights. As a young man he made himself a student of Nakae Chomin, anoher igosso from Kochi City, a political thinker eho first translated and propagated Jean Jqacques Rousseau's Du Contrat Social.
Then he turned to pacifist-socialism and firmly opposed the Russo-Japanese War, advocating democracy and a peaceful society.
As the goverment was oppressing socialism, 4 syndicated workmen plotted to assassinate Emperor Meiji, but were detected in 1910. Kotoku was not directly involved, even though he had turned to anarchism. But the govement, anxious to eliminate such elements, accused him of being the main conspirater and in the following year condemned him to death together with 11 others.
[From JR Kochi]
2 hour and 30 minutes by express bus from Sakaimachi Bus Stop.
[From Nakamura Railrord Station]
1 hour and 25 minutes by express bus.
Cape Ashizuri, the southernmost tip of Shikoku, crouwns the Ashizuri Uwakai National Park. A few four's hiking promenade on the cliff covered with camellias and subtropical trees centers on Konkofukuji Temple, which provides both a Pilgrims' Lodge and a Youth Hostel: (0880)88-0038.
Gazing out over wide stretches of ocean rewards the extensive travel required to reach there. But the breakers below the high rocky cliff look and sound forbidding. Nevertheless, stories from the 12 th to 15 th centuries celebrate men who set out from these rocks and let the wind and the currents carry them into the void of the ocaen. They were Kannon worshippers, who tried to reach the blesses land of Kannon- Fudaraku, from Potalaka, a rocky mountain at the tip of Cape Comorin in Indea.
The holy man chose to sail over the seas for Fudaraku had utmost faith in Kannon, the Buddhist embodiment of compassion. But his disciples, seeing their master and his boat carried away on the unknown sea, were stricken with grief. In tears they stamped their feet on the rocks. This is we are told, why this cape is named Ashizuri on Foot-Stamping.
Kongofuku-ji Temple, which Emperor Saga designated as the East gate to Fudaraku, has traditionally been a training place for traveling monks and ascetics since 822 when it was reportedly founded by Kobo daishi.
In 1841, a local boy was borne away by the winds and tides. But unlike the Kannon worshippers in former days, he returned home as a young man euipped with a wealth of infomation from abroad. He is popularly known as John Manjiro, whose statue marks Ashizuri-m isaki Bus Stop.
Manjiro was born in present-day Tosa Shimizu City as the second son of a fisherman who had died when Manjiro was nine.
To help his widowed mother who had to support five children, Manjiro worked hard as an assistant fisherman.
One day in January when he was 14, his master's boat fishing off Tosa Bay was caught in a storm. The five in the boat were thrown into mortal fear. Thirteen days later, they were cast upon the rocky shore of Torishima, an uninhabited island 580 km off Tokyo Bay.
Five months later, they were rescued by an American whaler. When she anchored in Honolulu the Japanese fishermen gratefully disembarjed.But Captain Whitfield, who found Manjiro unusually bright and diligent, was eager to bring him to his hometown, New Bedford, Massachusetts, to give him a proper education. he offered his plan , and Manjiro gladly accepted it.
Then he was again on board a whaler, which brought him to southern Afirica, the Indian Ocean, Australia, Java, New Guinea, Manila, the East China Sea, Taiwan, Okinawa and Hawaii. Two years later he had another opportunity to go to sea and when he returned to Massachusetts it was as the vice-captain of the whaler.
Manjiro might have spent the rest of his life in America way of life - democracy, freedom and independence. Yet he thought he must return to Japan to help Japan open her door to rest of the world. To Manjiro who had visited many ports around the world, Japan's policy and behavior seemed quite outdated.
Then the gold rush brought him to California. With some money he got there, he managed to sail to Honolulu to join the Japanese fishermen he had parted with earlier. In 1851, ten years after they left returning as close as Okinawa. One had already died. Another had chosen to stay in Hawaii.
The first-hand overseas information and skills Manjiro brought home were eagerly sought after by those who had already felt the necessity for the opening of Japan. It was not long before he was summoned by Lord Shimazu of Satsuma Province (Kagoshima Pref.) to which Okinawa belonged, and then by Lord Yamanouchi of Tosa, his home province.
In 1853 Commodore Perry arrived at Uraga with his black ships. Nakahama(John) Manjiro, now a samurai of Tosa Province, was summoned by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (Tokyo) for his knowledge of the world he had sailed around and of the United States where he had been living.
He taught them English, translation, navigation, mensuration, shipbuilding and whaling. The next year a treaty of friendship and commerce was signed. In 1860 when the Tokugawa Shogun sent a delegation to the U.S.A. to conclude the treaty, Manjiro again crossed the Pacific as their interpreter.
After the Meiji Restoration in 1867 the new government also needed his help, offering him a post at the Kaisei School for Western Learning, which later became part of Tokyo University, Japan's first national university.
Manjiro was the first modern Japanese to acquire a global viewpoint - a very rare case. But sometimes he could be a hard case in Japan, a land of feudalistic conformity. Yet manjiro, as a true individualist and igosso, did as much as he could for his two contries - Japan and America.
John Mung House is dedicated to the Japan-America friendship Manjiro established in the 19th Century. Open daily.
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