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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 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 arew bountiful; 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 than 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 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 dimens on rewarding travelers to this island.
A new type of sttraction in Shikoku is the fruit of nodern 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, theme parks, museums, sktline 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 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 instrumental in carryong out the modernization of Japan, opening Japan's door to the world 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
30 minutes' walk from JR Takamatsu Station.
Once a British roof, Edmund Blunden, visited Yashima and wrote a poem that was engraved on a stone here at Dankorei observatory :
Like a iong 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 acqire greater 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 inceasingly 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 clsn 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 wes terumost corner of the Inland Sea, where the proud Taira finally fell, the noblewomen casting theselves 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 muaeum a folding screen depicting the Gempei no Kassen Battles. (See p.42) The bell in the belfry, cast in kyoto on 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 the an insurrection caused by the discord be-tween Emperor Goshirakawa (1127-92) and Ex-Emperor Sutoku (1119-64). Sutoku was defeted and banished to Sanuki (Kagawa Pref.) to die a miserable deth 8 years later. His ashes were buried at Temple 81. In 1184 the couet elevated him to Shinto deity to placate his ghost. (See p.50)
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89) : By bringing about victory in the civil war, Yoshitsune had greatly helped Minamoto no Yoritomo, his elder brother, who in 1192 was to estsblish 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 Februaey 19, 1185, that Minamoto no Yoshitune 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 house.
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 her archers," said his attendant.
"Then iet 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 with 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 settingsun. 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. Same 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.
3 minutes' walk after leaving the bus as Toshogu-mae.
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, 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 Iyayam-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 anannual performance of their traditional farmers' kabuki.
3 minutes' walk from Nihon Tabako-mae Bus Stop after 10 minutes' ride from JR Takamatsu. (Kotoden Bus: Asahimachi Line)
30 minutes' 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:
The second floor exhibits about 300 dolls portaying 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 nor theastern 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 13th 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 worldy 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. Frail as dust blown by a puff of wind.
The doll begins to talk and sing the fiest line of the opening passage when it senses visitors approaching. Open daily. Admission:1200yen (High school students:800yen Children:600yen)
Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967), Prime Minister from 1946 to 1954, is credited with giving Japan direction through her most difficult times after the war.
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, the 5 islands 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 ordinary line at present and for a dual track superexpress line in the future.
The first person to air the idea of the Seto Ohashi Bridge was Okubo Jinnojo (1849-1891), a Kagawa native, who at that time was constructing the first Shikoku Roads to link all the prefectres 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 millionworkers involved (with the loss of 17 lives), and costing 1,190,000 million yen.
Surpriosingly, 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. I ts 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 centralpier of the Bridge. It aiso 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: 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 applies modern art to stone and water. Admission to the tower: 800yen. Admission to the Hall: 510yen. To the Seto Ohashi Memorial Pake: 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: 800yen / 1000yen (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. (1,000-1,500yen)
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 dates back to 1660, one of the few genuine Edo Period castles remaining in Japan.
The present-day Marugame is famos for uchiwa or round paper fan manufacturing, producing about 90 % of these fans in Japan.
The Gastle Park, 15 minutes' walk from JR Marugame, 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 heid 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 thesre houses Chinese ceramic ware and a collection of Iranian earthenware and glassware dating back to 2500 B.C. through the 1200's A.D. Open daily. Admission to the Garden & Galleries: 1000yen (Students: 600yen, Children: 400yen)
10 minutes' walk from Nakazu-bashi Bus Stop after 10 minutes' ride from Marugame Toricho near the castle. (Kotosan Bus for Zentsuji via Tadotsu)
[From JR Kotohira] 5 minutes to JR Zentsuji by ordinary train.
[From JR Takamatsu] 40 minutes to JR Zentsuji by express train (Dosan Line).
25 minutes' walk from JR Zentsuji along the street in front of the statioon.
Zentsu-ji Temple, is known as the birthplace of Kobo Daishi Kukai. Kukai is one of the greatest geniuses Japan has ever produced. He made a great contribution in remolding Japanese religion, while making unparalleled achievements as a scholar, poet, artist, calligrapher, sculptor, architect, educator, social worker, inventor, discoverer and civil engineer.
The giant camphor trees near the five-storied pagoda in the East Precinct are said to have already been several hundred years old when Kukai was born in 774. The Mieido Hall in the West Precinct at the foot of the green hill is the Birthplace. Visitors may traverse the basement of the hall along a pitch-dark path. This introspective journey is called kaidan-meguri. The entrance is at the right-hand corner of the Hall. The entrance fee includes the admission to the Museum.
After the Kaidan-meguri, arrows guide you to the museum. The temple treasures exhibited there include a small clay pagoda Kukai molded at 7, a bowl used by Kukai as a mendicant priest, a robe and a ritual stick (a National Treasure) of Indian make, both presented to Kukai by his Chinese master Abbot Hui-kuo, and a sutra scroll (a National Treasure) with each of the Chinese characters accompanied by a little Bodhisattva on a lotus pedestal; Kukai did the calligraphy, his mother the painting.
Shorinji Kempo is not merely a sport or martial art, but a religious exercise to approch the Buddha's spirit in the principles of "self-realization" and "help each other." It was started by So Doshin I (1911-1980) in 1947. Two years before he had been repatriated from Manchuria, the northeastern part of China that "Imperualist Japan" held for 13 years till the end of World War
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