Let me in troduce my self. My name is kazumi sakamoto.
I was born in Kahoku City, Kouchi prefecture, Japan on September 13, 1984 .(o_o)!!!!
I am a first year student at Kagawa Junior College.
My major is Infant Education.My hobbies are listening to music and using my mobile phone. (^_^)/^^^^
Especially Noted Products: raw and dried bonito, coral crafts, long-tailed cocks, Tosa native dogs and Tosa fighting dogs.
Especially Noted Cuisine :sawachi-ryouri and katsuono Tataki (bonito seared only on the surace)
Kochi, the largest city on the pacific coast, is the capital of Kochi prefecture, especially known for itsmarine products, forestry and greenhouse culture of vegetabules. The fishing porst dotted along the Pacific coast are usually busy with small boats that dring in boni to and mackerel from the warm current of fshore, and and sometimes with boats that have made six- or seven-month voyages after tuna into the Indian Ocean, the Tasman Sea, even the Atlantntic.
Men in this prefecture have long been known for a trait called igosso. When a men iscslled igosso, it means he is gallantly generous, obs tinately independent, carefree and passionate in his usually unpredictable actions. Women of the sametype are called hachikin.
Kochi was alos a castle town. The approach to the castle gate is liveliest on Sunday as the 3-cen tury-old Sunday Market is helpthere,the 1.2km avenue lined with hunsreds of stalls stocked with every kind of lokal product imaginable-vegetables,fruits,flowers,trees,raw dried or cookd fish ,coral crafts,toys, knives,antipues,old clothes,chine,earthenware,kittens,puppis,granny's pickles,cookies,cakes,pancakes and sumdry items.
5 minutes' walk from JR kochi Station to the entrance of Sunday Market.
kochi-jo Castle came into being in 1588 when Chosokabe Motochika(p.131), 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 LordsYamanouchi reigned until 1869 when the Province was officially returned to the Emperor Meiji.
The Otemon Main Gate built in 1603 still stands. The statue seenon entering the gate is that of Itagaki Taisuke , leader of Japan's populae right movement(p.128). The The other buildings-the highest bonjon, turres and gates-also retain their original style, they were rebuilt around the middle of the 18th century.
The bonjion houses of the Yamanouchi Family and historicar assets of the province,with one wing dedicated to local people whoin the 1860's became a drivinh force in overtheowing the Shogunate and restoring imperial rule.
Tosa was at thevanguard when Japan was at this critical turning point in her history. The 15th lord of Tosa Province, Yamanouchi Yodo for his pard presented the Shogun a petition for the peacefulrestoration of imperial fule. As theShogun accepted it in 1867 a boodless transference of the reins of government was tentatively achieved though itsatermath, the Boshin Civil War, was far from bloodless.
At the entrance hall of the museum, there are some exhibitions concerning two of the favorite sons of Tosa Province -Sakamoto Ryoma and Nakaoka Shintaro.
One of Ryoma ga yuku, a biographical novel of Sakamoto Ryoma,weitten by a leading noveling novelist of contemporary Japan, Shiba Ryotaro:
Sakamoto Ryoma can righrly be called a miracle in history of the Meiji Restoration. All the heroes who appeared in those days can be classified in categories. Only Ryoma cannot. He stood alone even among thousands of revolutionaries in that period It was a miracle initself, 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 bifferent history.
Indeed, only a few Japanese have been admired so much as Ryoma.(See p.133)He was the arche-1835 in downtown Kochi as a son of a wealthy samurai(goshi)(p.131)
At 19 he went up to Edo (tokyo) to sharpen his swordsmanship. But in July of that year(1853), Edo and its vicinity were thrown into chaos: Commodore Perry of the United States arrived at Tokyo Bay, bamanding the Tokugawa Shogunsign a treaty Japan had maintained a national isolation policy for over two hundred years. The confusion 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 srtist- scholar, who was already well-informed about foreignaffairs through acpuaintance with John Manjiro (p.139). Shoryo inspired Ryoma with a vision of modern Japan as a nation fortified against Western colonialism.
In1862 he returned to Edo afuter disenfranchising himself of goshi status in his home province. Soon he came to know Katsu Kaishu, the Shogun's Commissioner of the Warship Department. Katsu was among the most knowledgeable of internal and external affairs at that time. Tow 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 conclube a treaty of friendship and commerce with the U.S.A. He was a man of foresight, too curiously unselfish and betached from the Shogunate he served.
Ryoma offered himself as Katsu's assistant and leared under him Western navigation and studies including political science , philosophy and law.
Katsu also introduced Ryoma to his colleagues and friends. Some of them wereprogressive 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 corporatipn with some of the former students of the Navy Training Instute, established by Katsu in 1864 but closed the next year when it was suspected of being "a den of radicals" and Katsu was dismissed.
Now Ryoma knew ships passion and that the future of Japan was on the sea -in trading. To begin with, Ryoma approached 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 inclube the Choshu Clan as another shareholder. Satsuma and Choshu hand been hostile to each other, but if united, they could be a formidable power to overthrow the shogunate, which was now turning to a European colonialiat to subjugate Choshu first and then other revolutionary clans.
Ryoma, with his trading company uniting them,made satuma and Choshu into allies. From a merchamt marine, the company thus defacto 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 hom 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 dealof further bloodshed.
That very night Ryoma planned how to organize a provisional government for the new era to com . The next bay he produced a list of cabinet personnel.
Atfirst thye 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 @lanning 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 everyting he thought he had to. The administrative policy he had prepared was willihgly adopted by the new government.
The Five-Point Imperial Oa th deliverd by Emperor Meiji in 1868, in effect the first constitution of modern Japan, was derived from the Eihht-Point Plan ryoma had made two years before.
Here comes another igosso, I tagaki Taisuke(1837-1919).Durign the Boshin Civil War, Itagaki Ied his Tosa le-gion to subjugate the pro-Shoguuate clan of Aizu(Fukushima 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 rhe cold, simplyfled,Itagaki said to himself, ``It's only where there are rights is there buty."
A few years later when Itagaki retired from the cabinet in Tkyo, he started working to implementthe First Article of the Inperial Cath belivered by Emperor Meiji-`Deliberative assemberative assemblies shall be established on an extensove scale, and all measures of government shall be decided by public opinion."
In 1873, he and other members of the Akikoku Koto Party - the first political association of the Maiji era - preaented a resolution to rhe government, requeating the establishment of a par;iamentary government, but without success. He returned to Kochi and established rhe Risshi-sha society to propagate democratic principles, a piineer aming political societies emerging at that time.
By 1881 the national movemebt for bemocratic rights had reached its zenith and finally obtained the governent's pledge to inaugurate a National Assembly in 1890.
But when the first Deliberative Council was finally assembled and the Liberal Party was reorganized, it had already lost its original spirit. To the frustration of I tagaki, it was difficuly for liberalism, especially in politics, to take root in Japan.
Yet Kochi is regarded as the birthplace of Iapan's Movement for Democratic Rights. It was also in this prefecture, in the town of Kamimachi in 1880, that women first acquired suffrage, 65 years earlier than women in the rest of the countury, eho attained it in 1945 only after Wold War II.
There is the Memorial Museum of this Movement for Democratic Right, Jiyuminken Kinenkan, on the Sambashi-dori near the ferry port. Opan daily except Monday and days after national holi-days.
Admission:\300 (Students \100)
Halfway up the castle hill by the stone steps are statues of a woman and a big horse. She is the wife of Yamanouchi Kazutoyo, widely 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, kzutoyo'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 \privince by the Tokugawa shigunate with a fief of 240,0 koku, the larest in Shikoku.
Naturally many wives in Japan still like to cite "Yamanouchi Kazutoyo 's wife''to justify their secret savigs.
Chosokabe Motochika (1539-99), like many other warlords in the Civil War Period tjat lasted about a century from the close the 15th Century, fought for his autonomy and for the increse of his fief until he finally subjugated the whole is land of Shikoku (1584).
But soon he had to fight against Toyotomi Hideyosi, the successor to Oda Nobunaga as the strongest civil-war baron steadily unifying the country. When Motochika was defeated, he had to give up all the Lands he was only by helping hideyoshi subjugate Kyushu rhat Motochika was formall appointed Lord of Tosa.
Soon after his death, however, his heir morichika fought a losing battle against the Tokugawa at Sekigahara, only to be deprived
of his fief . In 1615 he was killed during the Tokugawas' siege against Osaka Castle. This spelled the end of the Chosokabe eminence. When Yamanoughi Kazutoyo became Lord of Tosa, he brought his own samurai from his former fiefdom (60,000 koku) of Kakegawa(Shizuoka Pref.), thus badlly icing Chosokabe's samurai cslled goshi or country samurai allthrough the Edo Period. Nowonder those goshi from Tosa were among the Tokugawa Shogunate.
25 minutes'bus ride from Seibu Terninal (Tosa dentetsu Bus bound for Chikurinji.).
chikurin-ji Temple, situated in top of Godaisan hill, is one of tje biggest of the 88 tenples. The main image, manjusri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom and intellect,and 19other Buddhust in the yresure house aer all Important Cutural Properties.
Just next to the temple is Makino Botanical Garden,a 30,000 m2 garden with 1,200 species, built in memory of the world-famous botanist MakinoTomitaro(1862-1957). 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 book 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
30 minutes7 bus ride from Harimaya-bashi (kochi-ken kotsuBus bound for Katsurahama)
For Ryoma Kinen-kan Memorial Museum, get off at Hotel keishokaku mae Bus Stop.
This beach on rhe Pacific Ocean is among the most popular in Shikoku. The Shell Museum near the bus stop displays a collection:\500.
The Aquarium on the beach is another attraction. Opan daily. Abmission: \950(High school students: \600)
Looking over the ocean is a statue of Sakamoto Ryoma erected in 1928 by Ryoma admirers on top of a small hill near the Tosa Fighting Dog Center. On another hill behind is the Ryoma Memorial Museum, which was alos funded by Ryoma adirers all over the country. High technolgy is utilized in various ways to introduce his dramatic life.
Open daily. Admission:\350
Another museum dedicated to Ryoma is the Ryoma Wasx Doll Museum that features the 25 scenes from his life. As to how to get there.
Near Katsurahama Bus Stop there is the Tosa Fighting Dog Center where a dog fight is shown when they have anaudience of 30 or more. (\1000).
Kochi Prefecture is known for the tow types of dogs - the native Tosa Dog sa a Natural Monument and theTosa 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 whines or turns its hind to the opponent is judged the loser.
Like sumo wrestlers,the dogsare graded into a hierarchy according to the points they have recently earned.
the long-tailed cocks called ona-gadori exhibited in another corner are also pecu-liar to this prefecture.The tail of a full-grown cock reaches as iong 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(TosaDentetu Bus bound for Ryugado).
For the Ryoma Wax Doll museum, get off at Otani-bashi in Noichi-cho.
Ryugado stalacti 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, stalacties 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 bozen earthenware vessels remained almost intact, together with some stoneware, animal bones and shells. Another corner had a water jar tocollect water dripping from above - nowa stalactite.
open daily: 8:30 - 16: 30 Admission:\850.
A small museum outside the cave displays the findings 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).
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