Let me introduce myself. My name is Madoka Yamamoto.
I was born in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefeture, Japan on March 1 . 1984.
I am a first year student at Kagawa Junion College.
My major is Nutrition.
My hobby is cooking
My homepage address is
http://www.geocities.co.jp/CollegeLife-Labo/4001/2004/403048.html
My Friends
Tokushima City, the capital of Tokushima Pref., has developed of the Yoshino, the second longest river in Shikoku. As it faces the Osaka-Nara-Kyoto area with Awajishima Island in between, it has traditionally been a cultural and economic port of entry from that heartland of japan.
In 1585 it became the capital when Lord Hachisuka I arrived to govern Awa, soon to become Tokushima Provied with a fief of 175000 koku. the former castle buildings are gone, bat the site is preserved as Tokushima Chuo Koen 1, 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 Stetion 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 1 there are 23 old temples gathered there by Lord Hachisuka I.
Zuigan-ji Temple 3 near the Popeway Station is known for its garden built early in the 17th century. Imbe-jinja Shrine 4 on the soutern 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.
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 5 on top of the hill is a favorite place for the tourists as it commands fine views. 7miuntes by ropeway after a 10 minute walk from JR Tokushima Station. Just go down the path on the left-hard side.
Bizan Koen 5 on top of the hill is a favorite place for the tourists as it commands fine views. 7minutes by ropeway after a 10 minute walk from JR Tokushima Station.
Tokushima is best known for a native folk dance parade callde Awa Odori During the Odon 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 hauds to the accompaniment of the Yoshikono, a popular song from the Edo Period, is witty and romantic, with its refrain irresistibly coaxing or challenging:
- Odoni aho ni miru aho!
- Onaji aho nara odoranya son son!
- Dancers are fools; lookers-on are fools!
- If both are fools, why not be dacing fools!
- Aaaa-ra, e-rai yatcha!
- E-rai yatcha!
- Yoi yoi yoi yoi!
Indeed, Awa Odori in its folk eartiness is a great leveler, accessible for all to enjoy. The dancing itself is very easy. They say, " wave your raised hands and step alng, 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 6 and Ryogoku- bashi Bridge 7 acomodate tourist dancers. They may join one of the niwaka-ren or hastily-made-up groups.
Nowadays there are a samba-ren and a robot-ran, too. Reportedly about a million pepople visit Tokushima for the Awa Odori during the O-don 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 damcing 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 8 in front of JR Tokushima Station. The first session is from April 1 to June 20, the second from Septwmber 1 to November 30. With the instruction given after a demonstration, very few remain onlookers, Open nightly except Tuesdays; 20;00-20:40 Admission;\500
O-don is the biggest Buddist event in japan, a season for family reunions, memorial services, grave-visiting and Bon Odori dancing to entertain the visiting souls of the dead.
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. (0886)23-5342
Moraes , a fromer 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 spincipal works -The Bon Odori in Tokushima, O-yone and Koharu, A Glimpse of the History of Japan and A Glimpse of the Japanese Soul. After 13 years oa 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 Ghoon-ji Temple 9 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 10 in Tera-machi. In Moraes Street there still stands an old cherry tree in what was his garden.
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
no Ningyo Joruri is performed on weekende by local women. The
title is usually Keisei Awa no Naruto, 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:
(0886) 65-2202. Admission to the residence (\300) includes admis-sion
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 dools of historical value.
Strangely enough, "Jurobe" as the hero of the puppet
play performed here and "Jurobe" ;as the former owner
if 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 qppointed 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 something the Tokugawa Shogun in Edo had strictly prohibited. Several years later, however, this covert trade by Awa Province almost became known to the Shogunate, when Hikoroku, a rice boat captain, when suspected by Jurobe of illicit gain, began to threaten the local authorities in terms of Jurobe's "ill treatment"of him. The case had to be put to rest as soon as possible, or Lord Hachisuka of Awa Province would be ousted. The authorities decided to comdemn Jurobe to death on no definite charge. But Jurobe, aware of his master's predicament, accepted this decision without any defence. 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 province to the Emperor Meiji.
Joruri librettists in those days wrote pupet plays based on the latest sensational news. The author of Keisei Awa no Naruto must have thought Jurobe was one of the wocked 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 exhidition hall, Awa Deko Ningyo-kan
Jurobe and his wife 0-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 rod a little girl pilgrim of silver coins, choked her to death. The girl was soon found to be his own daughter 0-tsuru they had left behind when she was only three. 0-tsuru, who had been in the care of her granny, was then making apilgrimage around the thirty-three Kannon temples, wishig to find her long-lost father and mother. 0-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 eithout 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 newly-built spacious park on a hill consists of the Tokushima Prefectural Library, Museum, Modern Art Museum, Archives, an outdoor theater and the 2lst 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.\200.
[From JR Tokushima] 35-50 minutes' train ride JR Naruto.
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 ptovince must have no more than one castle. The castle newly built in 1965 at the same place on top of Myokenzan Hill Park 3 (about 30 minutes' walk from JR Naruto Station) houses the Torii Kinen Hakubutsukan, a museum exhibiting the collection of Torii Ryuzo (1870-1953), anoted anthro-pologist-atchaeologist ftom Naruto. Admission:\200.
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:\600
1 O naruto-bashi Bridge 2 Naruto Koen
3 Myokenzan Hill 4 Naruto Skyline
5 Okazaki Beach
A curious natural phenomenon in Seto Inland Sea is the whirlpools in the Naruto Straits, whose view can usually be enjoyed from Senjojiki Observatory at Naruto Koen Prtk 2.
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 (\1100) 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 taking the following course: JR Bando → Ｒyozen - ji (No.1) 0.8km 2 1.5km → Oasahiko - jinja 5 0.1km →Doitsu - kan German Museum + German Village 6 1.7km → Gokuraku - ji (No.2) 3 1.0km → JR Bando
Ryozen - ji Temple (No.1) is usually crowded with those are starting on a pilgrimage. The reson 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.
1 Otani - yaki Workshop
2 Ryozen - ji (No.1)
3 Gokuraku - ji (No.2)
4 Konsenji - ji (No.3)
5 oasahiko -jinja
6 German Museum
7 Ai no Yakata Museum
Osashiko - jinja, Number One Shrine of Awa, was dedicated to the mythological first settler of this province, Oasahiko, who stsrted growing asa (flax) and cotton. Its annual festival is held on November 1.
Doitsu - kan German Museum next to Osashiko - 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 stiil 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. Admission: \200.
On the 1st Sunday in June, a memorial concert reenacts the Ninth Symphony at Naruto - shi Bunka Kaikan: (0886) 85 - 7088.
On the 1st weekend of August, a German Festival is held at the German Village.
About 10 workshops making Otani - yaki Pottery 1 (since 1780 when the art was introduced by a pilgrim from Kyushu) are open to visitors. 30 minutes' walk from JR Awa Otami.
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 q favorite place for anglers.
Especially noted products are wakame seaweed and Naruto - dai sea bream.
The high tide that runs into Osaka Bay from the Pacific Ocean goes on into the Sea of Harima, making the sea level nouth of the straits 2 m higher than that of the south. The higher waters, when tunbling down the straits 1.3 km wide at a speed of 20 km per hour, cause a number of whirlpools 15 - 20 m in diameter, 2 m 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 calm again.
The time the whirls are most spectacular is when the moon is full or new, especialluy in spring or autumn. The whirls occur 4 times a day but the hours differ from day to day, though they are often 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 ao 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 indego imported from China. In 1541 Aoya Shirobe, an indego manufacturer from Osaka, settled in this neighborhodand improved the dyeing, impetus to the industry. At the beginning of the 20 th Century, however, synthetic indigo and other chemical dyes began to be imtorted, putting an end to the traditional industey in Tokushima. Ai no Yakata Residence formerly belonged to the Okumura family ofprosperous ai merchants. 13 buildengs including the main house built in 1808 remain from the heyday of the Awa ai industry. The Museum offers acorner where visitors can try their hand at indigo dyeing. Open daily except Tuesdays. Admission:\300.
20 minutes' walk from JR Yoshinari (See p.168)
[Bus + Lift + Hike]
2 hours' bus ride from JR Awa Ikeda to Minokoshi, the second highest peak in western (This Shikoku Kotsu Bus is only available from mid-July toward the end of August) + 15 minutes by lift from Minokoshi to Nishijima + a 40 minute hike.
Mt. Tsurugi (1955 m) , the second highest pesk 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 climd up the sheer cliff of Mt. Ishizuchi. Like Mt. Ishizuchi, though, 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:
- Tsurugi - jinja Lodge (0886) 67-5244.
- Kokumin Shukusha Tsurugi - sanso Lodge (0883) 67-5150
- (Only availabla from April through October).
- Oboke and Koboke Valleys
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. A30 minute cruise around Oboke valley starts at the landing - stage 20 minutes' walk from JR Oboke.
Yo Kazura - bashi:75 minutes' bus ride from JR Awa Ikeda to Kazura - bashi. (Shikoku Kotsu Bus bound for Nagoro).
Twa villages - East and West Iyayama - son - were trditionally known as the remotest villages in Japan. Yet for this very reason some villagers may have illustrious ancestors.
The survivors of the Heike Clan, who controlled the Heian Court in Kyoto but were defeated by the Minamoto Clan in 1185 (p.37), 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 Minmoto pursuers who wearied of hunting down their former colleagues and decided to settle here.
Today, tourists venture to remote Nishi Iyayama - som 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., Shiba in Miyazaki Pref. and Gokanosho in Kumamoto Pref., all claiming their ancestors ancestors were survivors of the Heike nobility.
From JR Tokushima: 1 hour and 15 minutes by express train to JR Hiwasa (Mugi Line) 10 minutes' walk to the Temple.
Yakuo - ji Temple (No.23), reportedly founded in 815, is annually visited by about a milion Japanese people at their critical of unlucky ages - 41, 42 and 61 for men and 32, 33 and 61 for women. Almost all the tenples and shrines in Japan offer protection during these years, but visiting thes temple is considered to be most effective to ward off evils. There are three flights of stone steps - the men's flight of 42 steps, the women's flight of 33 steps and another of61 steps are covered with one - yen coins offered by these men and women. They bring as many coins as their age so they can put one on each step.
Ohama - kaigan, 15 minutes' walk from JR Hiwasa, is a long pine
