Let me introduce myself. My name is Yuki Sasaki. I was born in Niihama city, Ehime prefecture. Japan in September 20, 1984.
I am a first year student at Kagawa Junior College. My major is Infant Education.
My hobbies are listerning to music and playing soccer.
My Favorite Links
My Friends
Yuko Akagi
Yuko Ikeda
Reiko Kamada
Kana Kubota
Kaori Takashima
Naomi Kadota
Sachiyo Sato
Michiko Ishikawa
Web Searches
Texthook Links doubutu yafookids mainichi icp teacher guide 童謡・唱歌の世界 ふるさと長浜 日本アニメーション ほのぼの動物園 はねるのとびら 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
My Favorite Region
Visting 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 generatioms of people from all over the country .They have often spent more than 60days 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 helth ,have usually left the insland with a ligher heart , more enlighttened,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 rich. This pilgrimage circleing the island is nationally known as o-Shkoku-san ,showing that 2Dear old Shkoku Pilgrmage" is synonymous with this island and provides sanctuary to the soul of Japan .The scenece along the Shkoku Pilgrimas correspond well to what Sikoku 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-saized cities that friinge the coastes. Its climate is mild:the seas are bountiful; the land is fertile.Naturally local pople have been content with their blessed island,even if it has remaind underdeveloped since the 9th century.Until then the northern coast of Shikoku was among the first areas to enjoy civilization in Japan, as proved by so many archaseological findings. Remote as it was for many centuraies.howeever, Sikoku did not stand allf but obseved movements on the Inland Sea as an artery of Japan's cultural,political and economic development .On the other hand,Sikoku 's unique atraction such as the Sikoku Pilgrumage ,kompira worship and the Dogo Onsen Hot Spring spa have always drawn a larhe number of people from the capitails and other parts of the main island of Honshu and neighboring Kyushu.Naturarlly those visitors brought something new with them each time,just as refugees and exiles from the capitals dded 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 Shioku have added another dimension rewarding travelers ti this island .A new type of attraction in Shikoku is the fruit of modern techonology that the waves of development have finally brougt here in the 1980's and 90's -the colossal bridges connecting Shikoku with the main island,pleasure resorts,theme parks, museums, skyline drivis and relatively inexpensive golf courses.So the charm of Shikoku can rightly be called an exquisite coexistence of tradition and modernity, naturaand art.Last but not least is a spirutual climate of Shikoku that has producces 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 instremental in carrying out the modernization of Japan ,Opning Japan's door to the wor ld as an independent nation .They were all rare 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!
Matsuia City
Matsuyama, the largest city in Shikoku, has dominated this area since 1995, when Lord Kato arrived here. The castle he began to build seven years later still looms over down town Matsuyama as its definitive landmark.
A large stone monument at the left-hand corner of the JR Matsuyama station plaza reads follows:
- Come spring as of old
- when such revenues of rice
- Braced this castle town!
Shiki
This monument characterizes the nostal-gic pride of haiku-loving Matsuyama people, three out of ten of whom are said to be haiku poets.
Very few Japanese, haiku poets or not, can visit Matsuyama without remembering Shiki, a preeminent son of Matsuyama, who made this town what is called the hometown of Haiku (5-7-5syllable verse).
Another nationwide attraction of Matsuyama is the fabled Dogo Onsen Hot Spring Dogo-Onsen.
The Dogo Onsen Honkan public bathhouse of distinctive architecture can be fully experienced inside.
Ishite-ji Temple (No.51) near Dogo Onsen is one of the most impressive of the 88 Sacred places of Shikoku. It is also known for a gripping supernatural legend deeply imbued with the origin of the Shikoku pilgrimage.
It was 150,000 koku.
(By Streetcar)
Take the loop line in front of JR Matsuyama and get off at okaido,and walk about 5 minutes to the "Ropeway" Station or past it to the Shinonome-jinja shrine stone steps.
(By Bus)
10 minutes' bus ride to Shinonome-jinja-mae or "Ropeway"- mae from JR Matsuyama onsen kanko Bus bound for Oku-Dogo.
To the hilltop:15 minutes' walk up the hillside past Shinonome- jinja Shrine at the end of the wide stone steps or 3 minutes by ropeway or chair lift from Ropeway Station.
The three-storied main donjon and a subsidiary donjon fortified with several turrets and gates form a typical fort castle of the 17th century. The original buildings are gone except for Inui-mon Gate, some walls and ramparts.
Recently the city has completed an extensive project to rebuild the entire castle.Great care was taken to employ the same techniques and materials as used in the orginal construction;not one nail was used to fit all the wooden parts together.
The main donjon houses a large collection of swords, spears, armer, documents,works of art and calligraphy,and mements mainly of the lords of the castle-the katos,the Gamos and several generations of the Matsudairas.Open daily. Admission: 260 yen.
The local enthusiasm for composing haiku dates back to 1674 when Lord Matsudaira Sadanao came to govern this province.While in Edo(Tokyo),sadanao had proved himself a distinguished haiku student of kikaku,one of the foremost disciples of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the poetic genius who virtually invented the classical japanese haiku. People in Matsuyama took interest in the literrary art from their new lord brought to them and soon made haiku an outlet for artistic expression in their daily lives. In 1880 Japan's Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902),who had been trying to bring Japanese literature more up-to-date in Tokyo as a student-turned-newspaperman, succeeded in originating a new style of haiku by freeing it from formalism, while fighting a losing battle against tuberculosis. Before his death at 35, he managed to establish new standards for waka (5-7-5-7-7 syllable verse) as well. Soon Matsuyama produced many other poets who carried on Shiki's shasei realism as modern period that followed , shasei realism as Japan's premier haiku poets throughout the modern period that followed, including Takahama Kyoshi, Kawahigashi Hekigodo,Naito Meisetsu, Yanagihara kyokudo and Ishida Hakyo. They in turn attracted such a large number of haiku poets to their hometown that Matsuyama was dubbed " the hometown of haiku."
Literature-loving people will enjoy visiting these places:
Shiki-do House on the ground of Shoshuzen-jiTemple behind Matsuyama-shi- eki Station is a replica of Shiki's home - a small house of a low-ranking samurai family. Shiki spent his first 16 years there until he set out for Tokyo to study. The exhibition includes about a dozen paintings he did with the juice of herbs and flowers his sister picked from the garden of his house in Tokyo where he was bedridden for the last seven years of his short life. Open daily.Admission: 50 yen.
* 5 minutes' walk from Matsuyama-shi-eki station.
Another house associated with shiki is the Gudabutsu-an behind Bansuisi Art Museum. At the age of 27 Shiki returned to Matsuyama,trying to recover from tuberculosis he had contracted five years before, and he shared a two-storied cottage with Natsume Soseki, a friend from college Gudabutsu-an after one of his pen names,Gudabutsu or Foolish Buddha. Soseki's portrait is now ubiquitous on the 1000 yen bill.* 6minutes's walk from okaido on the streetcar loop line.
There are 'haiku post' boxes of vaious shapes and sizes standing in many public places including Matsuyama-jo Castle. The forms to write your haiku, name
and address, are placesd beside each post. Here is an example of an English haiku that appeared in "A collection of the Best Haiku of the Year"(the 20th volume) poblished by the City in June,1989:
Dyes of blue and white Glimmer in the looms so fast Making summer cloth
This alludes to the Iyo-gasuri kimono cloth native to this prefecture.
Taneda Santoka (1882-1940), a haiku nonconformist who cast aside all the rules including the 5-7-5 syllable structure, is also associated with Matsuyama. Spending most of his life wandering all over the country as a begging monk, chose to settle in Matsuyama only to die 10 months later.
The humble cottage where he dwelt - Isso-an-(A Blade of Grass Hermitage) is preserved north of Ehime University.His books and documents are also preserved in Shiki Memorial Museum.(see p.78)
A pop of hail even in my iron bowl*! santoka
(Tetsu-bachi no naka nimo arare)
*A boul used by a mendicant priest.
*30 minutes' walk from Sekijuji Byoin-mae on the loop line.
5 minutes' walk from kinyama Station on Iyo-tetsu Takahama Line.
The museum house 2,300 items concerning this traditional art of Iyo-gasuri making- the indigo-dying and weaving peculiar to this former Iyo Provice, designated as a national Folk Art by the government, and enjoying nationwide fame. It has a workshop to demonstrate the art and a shop to sell the products, as well .Admission free .Open daily except December 31 and January 1.
(From JR Matsuyama)20 minutes by streetcar bound for Dogo Onsen.
(from the castle)5 minutes by streetcar from the nearest station, Higashi keisatsusho- mae ,boud for Dogo Onsen.
(From Masuyama kanko-ko port)45 minutes by bus bound for Dogo Onsen.
Dogo onsen,one of the oldest and best-known hot spring spas in Japan,was visited by several Emperrors and Emppresses,noblemen and noblewomen as early as the 5th century. from the Dogo Onsen Streetcar Terminal,5 minutes' walk along the shopping arcade will bring you to an ornate Japanese-style building, the Dogo Onsen Honkan, the main public bathhouse run by the city. there are two baths-kami-no-yu and Tama -no-yu. The former is more popular than the latter. Many local people visit kami-no -yu every day, to enjoy meeting people as well as talking a bath. To the Japanese people in general, hot springs are not only for healing physical ailments but also for recreation. the alkaline water containing minerals is supprosed to be good for rheumatism, skin diseases, wounds and so on. The drum-beating from the small pavilion on the top of the main building is meant as an invitation. The first beating at 6:30 a.m.singnals the opening of the house ,followed by a second beating at noon. The last at 6:00 p.m. is for evening bathers. Open daily:
1st floor - kami - no - yu (250yen) 6:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. 2nd floor - kami - no -yu (620yen) 6:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. - Tama - no - yu (980yen) 6:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. 3rd floor - Tama -no - yu (1240yen) 6:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. The carved white heron mounting the pavilinon roof is the symbol of Dogo Onsen. Legend says that long, long ago a wounded white heron was seen to bathe here as if it knew the hewling effect of the hot spring. Both kami - no - yu and Tama - no -yu are divided into men'a and women's baths, and by different ranks of service such as tea with cake, cotton kimono or private saloon.
The neighborhood of Dogo Onsen has many plase of interest. Isaniwa-jinja Shrine,a gracious vermilion - lacquered building ,built in 1667 by the then Matsudaira lord, is one of the three best examples of Hachiman-zukuri architecture in Japan.
This neighborhood was the political center of Iyo when the Iyo Suigun seamen led by the Kano Clan reigned supreme from the 13th to 16th centuries. Dogo Koen Park was the side of the Konos'castle destroyend in 1585 when Hideyoshi subjuagated the whole is land of Shikoku .Its ancient moats and ramparts still remain.
Shiki Memorial Museum in the same park is a literrary museum dedicated to Masaoka Shiki. The modern white builing hoses a large collection of writings , ;photographs, videos and documents concerning Shiki.Biographical sketches are also provided of poets and witers who helped him with his literry activities,carrying on his shasei realism after his early death.
(From Dogo Onsen) 15 minutes' walk southeeast along the road beside the Shiki Memorial Museum.(From JR Matsuyama) 15 minutes' bus ride to Ishiteji mae Bus stop (Iyotetsu Bus or Oku-Dogo Onsen kanko Bus bound for Oku-Dogo Onsen kanko Bus bound for Oku-Dogo.Ishite-ji Temple offers many things to see, inclding the main gate (a Natoonal Treasure),the main hall, the three-storied pagoda,the Gomado hall (all Important Cultural Properties),and the treasure house. But to appreciate the temple fully,one must hear the following story: Long ago there lived in this neighborhood a man called Emon Saburo. He was very rich, but all he wanted was to be richer still. One winter day a wandering monk came to his gate ,prayed and held out his begging bowl to appeal for food .Saburo coldly refused him. The next day the same priest came again, but Saburo angrily drove him away. But the priest kept returning. On the 8th day Saburo went at him with a stik,struck him, dashing his bowl to the ground. The priest came no more .But on the next day the eldest of Saburo,s sons died, and the next day another. Eight Days passed, and every one of his eight children was gone,to his gr ief and horror. Saburo then realized how wrong- headed and evil he had been.What he had to do , he determined ,was to go and find that holy man and beg absolution.Soon he was following the monk's trail,asking for alms, begging for food himself every day. He went around and around Shiokku Island for four years, but in vain. Having already made 20 rounds,he deciaded to make one more round in the reverse direction , instead of trying to catch up with themonk.. His health was falling ,but
誤解
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