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 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 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 Island Sea, the Uwa-Kai Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the green mountains that crown a laage part of the island, cosy little towns and middle-sized cities that fringe the coasts.
Its climate is mild; the seas are bounyiful; 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 Island 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 tha main island of Honshu and neighboring Kyushu.
Naturally those visitors brought something new with then each time, just as refugees and exiles from the capitals added color to the island's history.They were welcomed and somethings the culture they brought here was carefully preserved or developed even long after being forgotten in its homeland - language, festivals, arts and techniques. Thses cultural assets now peculiar to Shikoku have added another dimention rewardign 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 connection Shikoku with the main island, pleasure resorts, theme parks, museums, skyline drives and relatively inexpensive golf courses. So the charm of Shikoku can rightly be called an exquisite coexistencen of tradition and modernity, nature and art.
Takamatsu is the capital of Kagawa Prefecture, which has taditionally been called the gateway to Shikoku, with the whole land of the prefecture jutting out into the Seto Inland Sea like a porch.
JR Takamtsu 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. Takanatsu Chikko just opposite JR Station is the terminal of Kotoden trams to and from Kotohira, the seat of 'Konpira-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 Monogarari but also about 50 great historical figures closely associated with Shikoku or native ro 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 in 1945. Admission: 100yen.
Traditionally the popular sightseeing spots in Takamatsu are Ritsurin Koen Park near downtown and Yasima Plateau overlooking the city and the Inland Sea. They are accsesible by bus or tram, with terminals at Takamatsu Chikko just opposite JR Station.
-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 in 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 generetions developing it into a larger stroll-type gerden 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 Sptember, and brilliant maple leaves in November add to the pleasure of strolling.
Kikugetsu-tei, one of the pond-side tsahouses, was originally one of the Matsudairas' formal buildings. The museum just inside the main gate houses a variety of mostly local handicrafts. There is a zoo, too, inside the gate.
Open daily. Admission to the park: About 300yen.
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 the 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 Minsmotos and the Tairas).
Once a British poet, Edmund Blunden, visited Yashima and wrote a poem that was engraved on a stone here at Dankorei obseravatory:
Like a long roof, men say, and will they say, This hill of warrior ghosts surmounts the plain...
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 Mimamotos. The 20 years that followed saw the Tairas rise to increasingly control the Imperial Family, inviting 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 westremost corner of the Inland Sea, where the proud Taira finally fell, the noblewomen casting themselves into the sea with child Empreor Antoku.
Thu the age of ancient nobility yieldded 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 be-tween Emperor Goshirakawa (1127-92) and Ex-Emperor Sutoku (1119-64). Sutoku was defeated and banished to Sanuki to die a miserable death 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 (1159-89) : By bringing about victory in the civil war, Yoshitsune had greatly helped Minamoto no Yorimoto, has 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 Kobuki, Nou 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 for