Kana
Kubota's
Home Page
Let me introduce myself. My name is
Kana Kubota. I was born in Kanonji City, Kagawa
Prefecture, Japan, on February 6,
1985.
I am a first year student at Kagawa
JunioSear College. My major is Infant Education.
My hobbies are talking with friends,
walking my dog, and singing songs.
My Favorite Links
My Friends
Web Searches
Textbook Links
My Favorite Region
Quoted from the Shikoku Bilingual
Guidebook by Akiko Takemoto and http://ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/Steve
McCarty
PREFACE
Visiting or living in Shikoku is something special, for this
island 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 oh the eighty-eight temples still remain
very hard to reach.
This pilgrimage circling the island is nationally known as
0-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 remainded 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, them 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 or 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 rave 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!
Kagawa
Takamatsu City
- the Gateway to Shikoku -
Takamatsu is the capital of Kagawa Prefecture, which has taditionally
been called the gateway to Shikoku, with the whole land Sea like
a porch.
JR Takamatsu Station next to Takamatsu Harbor is the terminal
of the Kotoku Line for Tokushima Pref., the Yosan Line for Ehime
Pref. and the Dosan Line for Kochi Pref., while serving as the
bus terminal to Tokushima, Matsuyama and Kochi City. Takamatsu
Chikko just opposite JR Station is the terminal of Kotoden trams
to and from Kotohira, the seat of 'Kompira-san!
The New Takamatsu Airport handles non-stop flights to and from
Seoul, Korea.
Another place in Takamatsu appropriate as a gateway to Shikoku
is the Takamatsu Heike Monogatari Historical Museum that features
not only the famous historical literature called Heike Monogatari
but also about 50 great historical figures closely associated
with Shikoku or native to Shikoku.
Takamatsu became the capital in 1587 with the advent of Lord
Ikoma I as governor of Sanuki Province. The castle he built on
the harbor was succeeded by 4 generations of his descendants,
and then by 11 generations of Matsudaira lords, governing Takamatsu
Province with a fief of 120,000 koku.
One ninth of the former castle ground is preserved as Tamamo
Koen Park across the street from JR Takamatsu Station. The donjon
is gone, but two of the 15 turrets and Mizute Gomon Gate from
the 17th century (Important Cultural Properties) survived the
air raid jn 1945. Admission: 100yen.
Traditionally the popular sightseeing spots in Takamatsu are
Ritsurin Koen Park near downtown and Yashima Plateau overlooking
the city and the Inland Sea. They are accessible by bus or tram,
with terminals at Takamatsu Chikko just opposite JR Station.
Ritsurin Koen Park
* 30 minutes' walk from JR Takamatsu Station.
The busy street in front of JR Takamatsu is the main street
of downtown Takamatsu, and leads to the main gate to Ritsurin
Koen Park, a National Special Scenic Spot. This spacious garden
laid out with shapely mounds, cool ponds and about 160 varieties
of trees and flowers provides a classic example of a Japanese
garden or even a Chinese Taoist paradise fit for meditation.
Originally it belonged to a local warlord, and then to Lord
Ikoma. When it was transferred to the Matsudairas, they spent
five generations developing it into a larger stroll-type garden
for their villa. Seasonal charms of flowers and blossoms such
as ume (Japanese plum blossoms) in February, camellias in March,
cherry blossoms in April, wisteria and azaleas in May, Irises
and water lilies in June, giant lotuses in August, and Japanese
bush clover in September, and brilliant maple leaves in November
add to the pleasure of strolling.
Kikugetsu-tei, one of the pond-side teahouses, was originally
one of the Matsudairas' formal buildings. The museum just inside
the main gate houses a variety of mostly local handicrafts. Admission
to the park: About 300 yen.
Yashima Plateau
Bus: 30 minutes' ride from Chikko to
the terminal (Kotoden Bus for Yashima-sanjo or Yashima Hilltop).
Tram + Cable: 30 minutes' tram ride from Chikko to Yashima
(Shido-sen Line) + 5 minutes' cable-car ride.
Yashima, a pine-wooded tableland to the northeast of downtown
Takamatsu, is one of the world's rare lava mesas, about 290 m
high, 3 km wide, jutting 5 km out into sea.
The hilltop, overlooking the archipelago of the Inland Sea,
features Yashima-ji, an aquarium and observatories all linked
by forest promenades.
One of the observatories, Dankorei, commands a view of the
inlet fringed with memorials to the Gempei Yashima Battle (the
second last battle in Gempei War fought between the two rival
clans, the Minamotos and the Tairas).
Once a British poet, Edmund Blunden, visited Yashima and wrote
a poem that was engraved on a stone here at Dankorei observatory:
- Like a long roof, men say, and will they say,
- This hill of warrior ghosts surmounts the plain...
Gempei War
In 794 Kyoto became the capital of Japan
and it enjoyed peace for about 350 years (811 - 1155) - the longest
peace Japan has ever attained in her history.
The last 30 years of this period, however,
were far from peaceful. In 1156 the first battle took place in
the capital, thus opening up a new era dominated by martial emotions.
Two martial clans - the Minamoto and Taira clans - began to acquire
greater and greater influence in politics through fighting against
each other in the name of "the Emperor" or "the
Ex-Emperor".
In 1159, the Tairas succeeded temporarily
in staving off the Minamotos. The 20 years that followed saw the
Tairas rise to increasingly control the Imperial Family, invitng
animosity from the reigning Emperors, the Ex-Emperors, powerful
priests, warriors and lords, to say nothing of the Minamotos in
exile.
In 1181 the patriarch of the clan Taira
no Kiyomori died just when the Tairas faced more battles against
the Minamotos, who were gradually consolidating their power.
In 1183 the Tairas were driven from the
Capital along with the 6-year-old Emperor Antoku and his mother,
who was Kiyomori's daughter. They wandered far in search of supporters,
while fighting losing battles.
Now in 1185, Minamoto no Yoshitsune attacked
the remaining Tairas here at Yashima, then at Dan-no-ura in the
westernmost corner of the Inland Sea, where the proud Taira finally
fell, the noblewomen casting themselves into the sea with the
child Emperor Antoku.
Thus the age of ancient nobility yielded
to the age of Shoguns (1185-1867).
Yashima-ji Temple treasures in its museum
a folding screen depicting the Gempei no Kassen Battles. The bell
in the belfry, cast in Kyoto in 1223, was dedicated here for the
repose of the defeated Tairas. But no one can strike the bell,
as there is no hammer. They say, "Strike the bell, and invoke
the ghosts of the Tairas."
On the last weekend in March the Gempei
Yashima Festival is held, whose highlight is the Warriors' Pageant.
It was an insurrection caused by the
discord between Emperor Goshirakawa (1127-92) and Ex-Emperor Sutoku
(1119-64). Sutoku was defeated and banished to Sanuki (Kagawa
Pref.) to die a miserable derth 8 years later. His ashes were
buried at Temple 81. In 1184 the court elevated him to Shinto
deity to placate his ghost.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune : By bringing
about victory in the civil war, Yoshitsune had greatly helped
Minamoto no Yoritomo, his elder brother, who in 1192 was to establish
the first Shogunate at Kamakura. But Yoshitsune had to spend the
rest of his life escaping Yoritomo, until four years later he
killed himself. His tragic life and death was so appealing to
Japanese sentiment that he has taken on heroic proportion in Kabuki,
Noh and Joruri plays, based on what is called Yoshitsune Literature.
Very few Japanese visit Yashima without
being reminded of an episode shown in the picture above:
It was on the afternoon of February 19,
1185, that Minamoto no Yoshitsune mounted another surprise attack
against the Tairas at the then Yashima Island. Frightened by the
imagined immensity of enemy forces, the Tairas jumped into their
boats and sailed off. A fierce battle lasted for hours.
Now the sun was setting. Both sides began
to retreat, when a fair vessel parted from the Taira legions and
stopped about 80 m from the beach. Then a beautiful lady appeared
from the cabin, produced a pole with a bright red fan on its top
and beckoned to the puzzled warriors on the shore.
"What does she mean?" said
Yoshitsune.
"perhaps she is inviting one of
us to shoot the fan. Or she may be inviting you to come out onto
the front line for her archers," said his attendant.
"Then let it be shot down by someone,"
said Yoshitsune.
Soon a young man called Nasu no Yoichi
appeared on horseback with bow and arrow in his hands. The north
wind was strong. The boat was tossing up and down. The fan painted
with the golden sun at its center was fluttering on the pole.
All the Tairas in the boats and all the
Minamotos on the shore were watching Yoichi. What would he do?
Would he succeed?
Yoichi rode into the water as far as
he could. But it was still about 70 m to the target. He closed
his eyes and prayed. Then the wind fell for a moment. He shot.
The arrow pierced through a little above the rivet. The fan, flying
up a moment or two, came floating down, glittering in the setting
sun. There was great applause from both sides.
Then a man in armor appeared in the same
boat. He began to dance an elegant dance perhaps in genuine appreciation
of Yoichi's archery. Then Yoichi got another order and shot down
the dancing man, too. Some said, "Good shot!" But others
said "Not fair."
The Tairas were silent this time. Was
it a precursor of their demise? Two months later, the Tairas finally
fell.
Shikoku-mura Museum
3 minutes' walk after leaving the bus
at Toshogu-mae. (Kotoden Bus: Yashima-sanjo --- Toshogu-mae ---
Chikko)
3 minutes' walk from the cable-car station.
This is an open-air museum laid out at
the foot of Yashima Plateau. About 20 old rural buildings from
various parts of Shikoku have been reassembled here, including
a Farmers' Kabuki Theater, peasants' houses, a fisherman's house,
a sugar mill, a shed for steaming mulberry bark to make paper,
and workshops for making soy sauce and so on. There is a reprica
of Kazura-bashi from Nishi Iyayama-son, too.
Open daily: 8:30 - 16:30. Admission:
500yen.
On May 5, people including children from
Shodoshima Island, from which the Kabuki Theater came here, stage
an annual performance of their traditional farmer's kabuki.
Takamatsu Heike Monogatari Historical
Museum
3 minutes' walk from Nibon Tabako-mae Bus Stop after 10 minutes'
ride from JR Takamatsu. (Kotoden Bus : Asahimachi Line)
30 minute's walk from JR Takamatsu Station.
Japan's largest wax doll museum. The first floor is dedicated
to the 41 dolls of historical figures or modern men and women
of celebrity who have been closely associated with Shikoku.
The one of Kobo Daishi in his nyujo has its own corner as a
special exhibition.
- The other dolls include:
- Sakamoto Ryoma
- Nakaoka Shintaro
- Nakahama Manjiro
- Wenceslau de Moraes
- Inokuma Genichiro
- Takahama Kyoshi
- Ninomiya Chuhachi
- Setouchi Jakucho
- Makino Tomitaro
- Yasuoka Shotaro
- Kagawa Toyohiko
- Yokoyama Ryoichi
- Terada Torahiko
- Abe Yoshishige
- Nambara Shigaru
- Masaoka Shiki
- Kotoku Shusui
- Nakae Chomin
- Kikuchi Kan
- Manabe Hiroshi
- Yoshida Shigeru
- Itagaki Taisuke
The secound floor exhibits about 300 dolls portraying the 17
scenes from the Heike Monogatari or The Tale of the Tairas. The
Saga, composed of a large number of revealing episodes, was and
still is an inexhaustible source of Japanese literature and art.
Some of the most famous scenes took place at the foot of Yashima
Plateau at the northeastern tip of Takamatsu.
One hi-tech doll seen at the end of the exhibition is what
was called biwa hoshi or a blind biwa-playing bard who traveled
around chanting The Tale of the Taira Family even before it was
written down in the first half of the 13 th century. Its opening
passage is especially famous for its Buddhist idea of impermanence
that goes as follows:
- The bell of Gion Monastery tolls
- The impermanence of all worldly things.
- The color of sal blossoms shows the truth that
- Even the most prosperous inevitably decline.
- The proud will fall like a dream on a spring night.
- The valiant must perish, too, as
- Frail as dust blown by a puff of wind.
The doll begins to talk and sing the first line of the opening
passage when it senses visitors approaching.
Open daily. Admission: 1200 yen
(High school students: 800 yen Children: 600 yen)
Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967), Prime Minister from 1946 to 1954,
is credited with giving Japan direct-ion through her most difficult
times after the war.
The Seto Ohashi Bridge
The Kojima-Sakaide Route, popularly known as the Seto Ohashi
Bridge, was completed in 1988. It is the world's longest two-tiered
bridge system, stretching 13. 1 km from Kojima to Sakaide, connecting
the 5 island in between.
The 11 bridges in the system include 3 suspension bridges,
2 twin cable-stayed, 1 truss and 5 viaducts. The upper level accommodates
a motor expressway of four lanes, and the lower contains Japan
Railway's system for a dual track superexpress line in the future.
The first person to air the idea of the Seto Ohashi Bridge
was Okubo Jinnojo, a Kagawa native, who at that time was constructing
the first Shikoku Roads to link all the prefectures on the island.
In 1889 Jinnojo disclosed his dream in a congratulatory speech
he made as a member of the Prefectural Parliament at the opening
ceremony of the first railroad in Shikoku between Marugame and
Kotohira.
Exactly a century later, the Bridge came into being after decades
of planning and ten years of construction, 13 million workers
involved (with the loss of 17 lives), and costing 1,190,000 million
yen.
Surprisingly, Jinnojo had also foretold man's traveling to
the moon in his favorite drinking song of his own making, which
went as follows:
- I'll tell you, dear,
- don't laugh at me,
- a hundret years from now,
- I'll be seeing you flying
- to and from the moon in a space ship.
- Its port, let me tell you, dear, will be
- that mountaintop over there!
One of the best points to view the Bridge is Yoshima Island,
a central pier of the Bridge. It also serves as a sightseeing
outpost for the Shikoku and Inland Sea Districts, providing 2
parking areas for those who like to enjoy bridge-viewing, seafood
and shopping.
To Yashima: 20 minutes from JR Sakaide by Seto Ohashi Express
Bus.
Another is a rotating tower 132 m tall at the Seto Ohashi Memorial
Park at the foot of the Bridge in Sakaide. The Memorial Hall provides
all kinds of information on the Bridge and its construction, while
the park itself applines modern art to stone and water.
Admission to the tower: 800 yen.
Admission to the Hall: 510 yen.
To the Seto Ohashi Memorial Park: 10 minutes from JR Sakaide
by shuttle bus (free of charge).
The Gold Tower near JR Utazu Station offers a marvelous view,
too. The 144 m tower made of half-mirror glass is the tallest
of its kind in Japan, housing the Sky Lounge, restaurants, stores
and a World Toilet Museum.
Open daily. Admission to the tower: 800 yen / 1000 yen.
To Gold Tower: 8 minutes' walk from JR Utazu.
Bridge-viewing cruises are available from Keihan Fisherman's
Wharf on Yoshima, Memorial Park and Sakaide Port. (1,000 yen-1,500
yen)
Marugame City
-Castle & uchiwa-
25 minutes' train ride from JR Takamatsu.
To the Castle: 15 minutes' walk from JR Marugame.
The three-storied donjon on top of a green hill crowns the
city of Marugame. When a Marugame Province of 53,000 koku was
formed in 1641, an old castle was reconstructed and the castle
seen today dated back to 1660, one of the few genuine Edo Period
castles remaining in Japan.
The present-day Marugame is famous for uchiwa or round paper
fan manufacturing, producing about 90 % of these fans in Japan.
Surprisingly, Jinnojo had also foretold man's traveling to
the moon in his favorite drinking song of his own making, which
went as follows:
- I'll tell you, dear,
- don't laugh at me,
- a hundred years from now,
- I'll be seeing you flying
- to and from the moon in a space ship.
- Its port, let me tell you, dear, will be
- that mountaintop over there!
One of the best points to view the Bridge is Yoshima Island,
a central pier of the Bridge. It also serves as a sightseeing
outpost for the Shikoku and Inland Sea Districts, providing 2
parking areas for those who like to enjoy bridge-viewing, seafood
and shopping.
To Yoshima: 25 minutes from JR Sakaide by bus.
Another is a rotating tower 132 m tall at the Seto Ohashi Memorial
Park at the foot of the Bridge in Sakaide. The Memorial Hall provides
all kinds of information on the Bridge and its construction, while
the park itself applies modern art to stone and water.
- Admission to the tower: 800 yen.
- Admission to the Hall: 510 yen.
To the Seto Ohashi Memorial Park: 10 minutes from JR Sakaide
by Sakaide by shuttle bus (free of cherge).
The Gold Tower near JR Utazu Station offers a marvelous view,
too. The 144 m tower made of half-mirror glass is the tallest
of its kind in Japan, housing the Sky Lounge, restaurants, stores
and a World Toilet Museum.
Open daily. Admission to the tower: 800 yen / 1000 yen (Toilet
Museum included).
To Gold Tower: 8 minutes' walk from JR Utazu.
Bridge-viewing cruises are available from Keihan Fisherman's
Wharf on Yoshima, Memorial Park and Sakaide Port. (1,000 yen
- 1,500 yen)
Marugame City
- castle & uchiwa -
25 minutes' train ride from JR Takamatsu.
To the Castle: 15 minutes' walk from
JR Marugame.
The three-storied donjon on top of a
green hill crowns the city of Marugame. When a Marogame Province
of 53,000 koku was formed in 1641, an old castle was reconstructed
and the castle seen today dates back to 1660, one of the few genuine
Edo Period castles remaining in Japan.
The present-day Marugame is famous for
uchiwa or round paper fan manufacturing, producing about 90 %
of these fans in Japan.
The Castle Park, 15 minutes' walk from
JR Marigame, is surrounded by moats, featuring the donjon, a couple
of main gates (all Important Cultural Properties) and walls from
the 17th century. The 4 - level 60 m ramparts, the tallest and
among the most beautiful in Japan, also contribute to the beauty
of the castle.
O-shiro Matsuri Castle Festival is held
on the 3rd weekend in May.
The Inokuma Genichiro Modern Art Museum
adjacent to JR Marugame Station is dedicated to Inokuma Genichiro
(1902 - 93)
Banshoen Garden built in 1688 as a villa
for the Lord of the Province is 10 minutes' drive from downtown
Marugame. One of the galleries there houses Chinese ceramic ware
and a collection of Iranian earthenwere and