Let me introduce myself. My name is Miku Tojo. I was born in Mie Prefecture, Japan on January 12, 1985.
I am a first year student at Kagawa Junior College. My major is Elderly Care Social Work.
My hobby is playing the clarinet. My favorite foods are ice cream, omelette rice, and udon.
My home page address is http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLife-Labo/4001/2004/003014.html
Kumi Tomiie Sayaka Kaji Ayako Takeshita Chiaki Hirose Kana Takeuchi Itsumi 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 longuest, 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 teachniques. These culturalassets 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 coureeses. 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 feather of Japanese culture, the man who aired the idea of the Seto Ohashi bridge, and two yong 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 cosmopitans in Japanese history. There must have been something in spring 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!
Tokushima City , the capital of Tokushima Pref . , has developed on the estuary of the Yoshino , the second longest river in Sikoku . As it faces the Osaka - Nara - Kyoto - area with Awajishima Island in between , it has traditionally been a cultural and economic port of entry to Shikoku from that heartland of Japan .
In 1585 it became the capital when Load Hachisuka I arrived to govern Awa, soon to become Tokushima Province with a fief of 175,000 koku. The former castle buildings are gone, but the site is preserved as Tokushima Chuo Koen, 5 minutes' walk from JR Tokushima Station, featuring the lordly Front Palace Garden and the Museum .
The green hill a short distance from JR Tokushima Station is called Bizan , around which there are many temples and shrines. Visiting them along the nostalgic streets will be fun. In the neighborhood called Tera - machi or Temple Quarter there are 23 old temples gathered there by Load Hachisuka I .
Zuigan - ji Temple near the Popeway Station is known for its garden built early in the 17 th century. Imbe - jinja Shrine on the southern slope of Bizan was Number One Shrine of Shikoku, dedicated to the ancestral god of the Imbe Family as the first settlers of eastern Shikoku
Bicycles are available, free of charge, at the underground bicycle pool of JR Tokushima Station. Just go down the path on the left - hand side.
Bizan Koen on top of the hill is a favorite place for the tourists as it commands fine views.
7 minutes by ropeway after a 10 minute walk from JR Tokushima Station.
Tokushima is best known for a native folk dance parade called Awa Odori . During the Obon season ( August 12-15 ) tourists and residents alike are swept into its festive spirit.
From around 6 o'clock in the evening , tens of thousands of people, young and old , men and women, gaily attired, energetically dance from one square to another with light steps, waving hands to the accompaniment of the yoshikono song and shamisen guitars, drums, bells and fifes.
Yoshikono, a popular song from the Edo Period, is witty and romantic, with its refrain irresistibly coaxing or challenging :
- Odoru aho ni miru aho!
- Onaji aho nara odorana son son!
- Dancers are fools ; lookers-on are fools!
- If both are fools, why not be dancing fools!
- Aaaa-ra, e-rai yatcha !
- E-rai yatcha !
- Yoi yoi yoi yoi !
Indeed, Awa Odori in its folk earthiness is a great leveler, accessible for all to enjoy. The dancing itself is very easy. They say, "Wave your raised hands and step along, and you will find yourself dancing Awa Odori . "
Local people like to compare its rhythm with that of the Brazilian samba. People dance in groups called ren. The squares near Shimmachi-bashi Bridge accomodate tourist dancers. They may join one of the niwaka-ren or hastily-made-up groups.
Nowadays there are a samba-ren and a robot-ren, too. Reportedly about a million people visit Tokushima for the Awa Odori during the O-bon season.
It was wealthy indigo merchants who by the middle of the 19th century had cornered 80% of Japan's indigo market that made Tokushima's Bon Odori the gorgeous one we see today. They sponsored the dancing event to entertain their customers from all over the country, while common folk, who desperately needed some outlet for their frustration under ever heavier taxes, flung themselves into the festive dance.
Today one can enjoy the Awa Odori even in spring and fall, on the 4th floor of the Amiko Building in front of JR Tokushima Station. The first session is from April 1 to June 20, the second from September 1 to November 30. With the instruction given after a demonstration, very few remain onlookers.
- Open nightly except Tuesdays: 20:00-20:40
- Admission: 500yen
O-bon is the biggest Buddhist event in Japan, a season for family reunions, memorial services, grave-visiting and Bon Odori dancing to entertrain the visiting souls of the dead.
Moraes-kan Hall
- on Bizan Koen Park Hill -
Beside the Hilltop Ropeway Station on Bizan, there is a hall dedicated to a Portugese writer, Wenceslau de Moraes ( 1854-1929 ). It is called Moraes-Kan Hall, exhibiting his literary works, manuscripts, library, personal belongings, his study restored, etc.
- Open daily except Tuesday : 9:00-17:00.
- Admission 200 yen.
- tel (0886) 23 5342
Moraes, a former navy officer, came to Japan in 1898 as Consul General in Kobe. Two years later he married Yone Fukumoto, a geisha from Tokushima.
When she died of a heart attack in 1912, Moraes retired from his office and came down to Tokushima, where he met Saito Koharu, Yone's niece.
They lived together for three years until the girl died of tuberculosis at 23. Moraes was left alone. But he chose to remain in Tokushima. He lived in a Japanese way in what is now called Moraes Street at the southern foot of Bizan Hill, pursuing his research into the spirit and culture of Japan, producing his principal works - The Bon Odori in Tokushima, O-yone and Koharu, A Glimpse of the History of Japan and Glimpse of the Japanese Soul.
After 13 years of isolation, shunned by locals, the widower died a solitary death. His ashes were buried in Tokushima , according to his will, under the tombstone he had built for Koharu. It stands beside O-yone's tombstone in the garden of Choon-ji Temple just across a narrow street from the Ropeway Station at the foot of the hill.
On July 1, a memorial service for Moraes is held at Anju-ji in Tera-machi.
In Moraes Street there still stands an old cherry tree in what was his garden.
Awa no Jurobe's Residence
25 minutes by bus from JR Tokushima to Jurobe-yashiki-mae (Shiei Bus bound for Miyajima).
Across the Yoshino River there remains the former site of Awa no Jurobe's Residence, where the local puppet play known as Awa Ningyo Joruri is performed on weekends by local woman.
The title is usually Keisei Awa no Narute, Act 8. (As for the story, see p.165). The 30 minute performance (to the accompaniment of recorded music and songs) usually starts at 10 a.m. But one had better call the residence, as the time differs from season to season : tel (0886) 65-2202.
Admission to the residence (300yen) includes admission to the theater.
The present site is only one fifth as large as the original one, but it preserves the old main gate and the garden Awa no Jurobe (1646-1696) built himself. The main building, rebuilt in the 1920's, contains items and documents left by the family, while the exhibition hall displays dolls of historical value.
Strangely enough, "Jurobe " as the hero of the puppet play performed here and "Jurobe" as the fomer owner of this residence are quite different persons.
The latter Jurobe was the village squire of this part of Awa Province. At 33, because of his good reputation, he was appointed by the Province to be the inspector of rice imported from other provinces. Rice was scarce in this province because of a policy to promote production of more marketable commodities -indigo and salt. But rice imports were someeeeething the Tokugawa Shogun in Edo had strictly prohibited.
Several years later, hpwever, this covert trade by Awa Province almost became known to the Shogunaaaate, when Hikoroku, a rice boat captain, when suspected by Jurobe of illicit gain, began yo threaten the local authorities in terms of Jurobe's " ll theatment " of him.
The case had to be put to rest as soon as possible, or Lord Hachisuka of Awa Province would be outsted.The authorities decided to condemn Jurobe to death on no definite charge.
But Jurobe, aware of his master's predicament, accepted this decision without any deefence. His three sons were executed with him, too, while his wife and daughter were exiled. Thus the Hachisukas retained their lordship until 1869 when the last Lord officially returned the provinnnnce to the Emperor Meiji.
Joruri librettists in those days wrote puppet plays bassssed on the lateest sensational news. The author of Keisei Awa no Narute must have thought Jurobe was one of the wicked robbers put to death on the same day at the same place as the brave Jurobe.
Across the road in front of the main gate. there is a modern masters' workshop and exhibition hall, Awa Deko Ningyo-kan.
Jurobe and his wife O-yumi had long since left their home in Awa Province in search of a stolen sword - a precious sword that belonged to their master.
Set a thief to catch a thief, and Jurobe was now falling among thieves. One day he, trying to rob a little girl pilgrimof silver coins, choked her to death. The girl was soon found to be his own daughter O-tsuru they had left behind when she was only three. O-tsuru, who had been in the care of her granny, was then making a pilgrimage around the thirty-three Kannon temples, wishig to find her long-lost father and mother. O-yumi, her mother, also had met her on the same afternoon when she heard the girl singing a pilgrim song. It was indeed an excruciating decision for her, because of their ignoble estate, to let her little girl go away without telling her that she herself was her mother. Soon after their sad parting the girl was found killed by Jurobe, her own father.
25 minutes' bus ride from JR Tokushima (Tokushima Shiei Bus or Tokushima Bus).
20 minutes' walk from Bunka no Mori Station (Mugi Line ).
This is newly-built spacious park on a hill consists of the Tokushima Prefectural Library, Museum, Modern Art Museum, archives, an autdoor theater and the 21st Century Cultural Information Center. Situated in a forest 5 km south of downtown Tokushima, it is a pleasant place for students of all ages. Open daily except monday and national holidays. 200yen.
[ From JR Tokushima ]
35-50 minutes' train ride to JR Narute.
Naruto was an ancient port town. It was a castle town, too, in the 16th century, but was abandoned like seven other castles in Awa because of a law issued in 1615 by the Tokugawa Shogun that each province must have no more than one castle.
The castle newly built in 1965 at the same place on top of Myokezan Hill park (about 30 minutes' walk from JR Narute Station) houses the Torii Kinen Hakubutsukan, a museum exhibiting the collection of Torii Ryuzo(1870-1953), a noted anthro-pologist-archaeologist from Naruto. Admission : 200yen.
The Ataka Art Museum in the same area, dedicated to Serizawa Keisuke (1895-1984), whose folk art was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property, is recommended to those who are interested in folk art.
Open daily except Monday. Admission : 600yen
A curious natural phenomenon in the Seto Inland Sea is the whirlpools in the Naruto Straits, whose view can usually be enjoyed from Senjojiki Observatory at Naruto Koen Park.
To Naruto Koen from JR Tokushima :
35-50 minutes by train to JR Naruto + 25 minutes by bus to Naruto Koen. ( Tokushima Bus or Shiei Bus bound for Naruto Koen )
With lucky timing, the whirls can be seen from the windows of the bus crossing the Onaruto-bashi Bridge that spans the straits between Naruto and Awajishima Island. For a more exciting close-up view, a whirl- viewing boat cruise is available from March through November. The tickets ( 1100yen ) are sold at the window of Naruto Kanko Kisen at Kameura Port at the foot of the Park. Atan Renraku Kisen Ferry also offers the same kind of cruise starting from Fukura Port on Awajishima Island.
Pedestrians may enjoy talking the following course : JR Bando 0.8km = Ryozen-ji ( No.1 ) 1.5km = Oasahiko-jinja 0.1km = Doitsu-kan German Museum + German Village 1.7km = Gokuraku- ji ( No.2 ) 1.0km = JR Bando
Ryozen-ji Temple ( No.1 ) is usually crowded with those are starting on a pilgrimage. The reason this temple became No.1 was because the first disciples of Kobo Daishi came down from Mt.Koya, crossed the strait to Shikoku and arrived near here.
Oasahiko-jinja, Number One Shrine of Awa,was dedicated to the mythological first settler of this province, Oasahiko, who started growing asa ( flax ) and cotton.
Its annual festival is held on November 1.
Doitsu- kan German Museum next to Oasahiko-jinja houses the photographs, newspapers, magazines, tools and other mementoes of the 953 German prisoners of the first World War, who stayed here for 3 years from 1917. "The German Bridge" built by them is still there behind Oasahiko-jinja. They also showed local people how to make cheese and butter from milk, while introducing cabbage, tomatoes and onions. They were the first in Japan to form an orchestra, and impressed local people with their performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Those who have access to a car will enjoy the Naruto Skyline that commands fine view of seas, mountains and the Uchino-umi inlet, quite a favorite place for anglers.
The high tide that runs into Osaka Bay from the Pacific Ocean goes on into the Sea of Harima, making the sea level north of the staits 2m higher than that of the south. The higher waters, when tumbling down the straits 1.3km wide at a speed of 20km per hour, cause a number of whirpools 15-20m in diameter, 2m deep in the center.
When the tide changes and the southern side is higher, the whirls are seen on the northern side. While levels on both sides are the same, the waters are calm again.
The time the whirls are most spectacular is when the moon is full or new, especially in spring or autumn. The whirls occur 4 times a day but the hours differ from day to day, though they are of ten seen from 11 a.m. to noon.
Naruto City Sightseeing Information Office ( 0886 ) 86-0743 is ready to inform callers of the hours.
Awa-ai indigo dyed in Shijira-ori cloth is an especially noted product in Tokushima, a National Folk Art designated by the government.
Ai ( indigo dye ) from plants formerly grown along the Yoshino River was called Awa ai and enjoyed nationwide fame for its incomparable quality. It brought wealth to ai manufacturers and merchants, to Awa Province itself and on to Tokushima Pref.
A legend says Awa-ai manufacturing dates back to 1247 when a local Buddhist priest planted indigo imported from China. In 1541 Aoya Shirobe, an indigo manufacturer from O-saka, settled in this neighborhood and improved the dyeing, giving impetus to the industry.
At the beginning of yhe 20th Century, however, synthetic indigo and other chemical dyes began to be imported, putting an end to the traditional industry in Tokushima.
Ai no Yakata Residence formerly belonged to the Okumura family of prosperous ai merchants. 13 buildings including the main house built in 1808 remain from the heyday of corner where visitors can try their hand at indigo dyeing.
Open daily except Tuesdays. Admission: 300yen.
20 minutes' walk from JR yoshinari.
[ Bus + Lift + Hike ]
2 hours' bus ride from JR Awa Ikeda to Minokoshi , the terminal ( This Shikoku Kotsu Bus is only available from mid-July toward the end of August ) + 15 minutesby lift from Minokoshi to Nishijima + a 40 minute hike.
Mt.Tsurugi ( 1955 m ) , the second highest peak in western Japan, is nearly the match of Mt. Ishizuchi which crowns the other half of the mountain district of Shikoku. But it is a leisurely walk from the lift, nothing like the hair-raising climb up the sheeer cliff of Mt. Ishizuchi. Like Mt.Ishizuchi, thougt, Mt.Tsurugi is known for alpine flora and its ancient tradition of mountain-worship. Even today the annual festival of Otsurugi-jinja Shrine on the summit ( August 1 ) attracts a large number of worshippers and ascetics.
Where to stay :
These valleys along the Yoshino River, the second longest river in Shikoku, were formed between the ranges of Mt. Tsurugi and Mt.Ishizuchi. Both are popular among picnickers and quite accessible from JR Oboke and Koboke stations.
A 30 minute cruise around Oboke valley starts at the landing-stage 20 minutes' walk from JR Oboke.
Two villages - East and West Iyayama-son - were traditionally known as the remotest villages in Japan. Yet for this very reason some villagers may have illustrious ancestors.
The survivors of the Heike Clean, who controlled the Heian Court in Kyoto but were defeated by the Minamote Clean in 1185, fled and fled until they arrived here to lead a secluded existence for many centuries.
The Heike clansmen, ever watchful of their pursuers, created the kazura-bashi creeper bridges so they could cut them down easily as soon as they saw their enemies approaching from the other side of the ravine.
Paradoxically, however, some families in the villages are believed to be descendants of the Minamotopursuers, who wearied of hunting down their former colleagues and decided to settle here.
Today, tourists venture to remote Nishi Iyayama-son and enjoy crossing the one remaining Kazura-bashi Bridge, 42 m long and 2 m wide, made only of strong creepers. A Folk History Museum is within walking distance. Iya soba noodles, a speciality of the villages, are served in a small eating place at the foot of the bridge.
Other remotest villages in Japan are Gokayama in Toyama Pref., Shiiba in Miyazaki Pref. and Gokanosho in Kumamoto Pref., all claiming their ancestors were survivors of the Heike nobility.
Yakuo-ji Temple ( No.23 ), reportedly founded in 815, is annually visited by about a million Japanese people at their critical or unlucky ages - 41, 42 and 61 for women and 32 , 33 and 61 for women.
Almost all the temples and shrines in Japan offer protection during these years, but visiting this temple is considered to be most effective to ward off evils.
There are three flights of stone staps - the men's flight of 42 steps, the women's flight of 33 steps and another of 61 steps for men and women who have entered their 61st year.
Usually the steps are covered with one-yen coins offerd by these men and women. They bring as many coins as their age so they can put one each step.
Ohama-kaigan, 15 minutes' walk from JR Hiwasa, is a long pine-wooded beach favored by sea turtles. On summer nights the dark brown creatures, around 1 m long , weighing about 100 kg, arrive on the high tide onto the warm white sand to lay eggs. The scene can be watched by inbitation of their caretaker.
Umigame Turtle Museum is 20 minute's waik from JR Hiwasa.
Semba-kaigai Cliff, a 200 m-high cliff washed by the Japan Current, is among the highlights of Muroto-Anan Quasi-National Park. An hour's cruise round the cliff crowded with cormorants is worth trying. The boat ( only available from April through August ) starts at Hiwasa Port 10 minuts' walk from JR Hiwasa.
Awajishima, the largest island in the Seto Inland Sea, has always been a junction line between the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area and Shikoku. In fact, " Awaji " literally means " the Throughfare to Awa " and the Akashi-Naruto Route soon to cross the island will provide a modern throughfare to Tokushima.
According to Japanese mythology, the first island in Japan created by Izanagi and Izanami was Awajishima. This may account for the abundance of cultural properties and historical remains on this island as well as the existence of Izanagi-jingu dedicated to the creators of the Japanese Islands.
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