Japan consists of four islands, Hokkaido, Honshu (the largest island itself consisting of five regions), Shikoku and Kyushu. I had seen pretty much all of Hokkaido and Honshu, and for this trip I decided to finish off Shikoku in one week.
Shikoku consists of four prefectures, and I visited each for just one night.
On the way from Yokohama to Shikoku I stopped in Osaka for one night, and on the way back I stopped in Gujou for one night, both of which are in Honshu.
WESTERN HONSHU (KINKI REGION)
OSAKA
I had been to Osaka, the second largest city in Japan, three times before but had not seen the Tomb of King Nintoku (313-399), the largest tomb ever built on the Earth, dwarfing the Pyramid of King Khufu in Egypt.
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| King Nintoku's Tomb viewed from the ground level. |
It's so large that I thought there was no point in seeing only a part of it from the ground level. The only way to see the whole thing properly is from miles above, like from planes or from the International Space Station. The tomb is supposed to look like a keyhole from above. In fact dozens of smaller tombs for King Nintoku's relatives are nearby, so seeing them all from above should be surreal.
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| King Nintoku's Tomb viewed from the ISS. The tomb is surrounded by three moats. |
SHIKOKU
KAGAWA
In fact I had been to Shikoku twice before, both of which were to the Kagawa Prefecture, once to the city of Takamatsu, the capital of the Kagawa Prefecture, and the other time to the city of Kan-on-ji, where my uncle in law is from. So this time I visited the city of Kotohira.
Kotohira is known nationwide for Konpira-gu, or the Konpira Shinto shrine, which honors the Shinto God of sea farers. I dutifully climbed up 1368 steps to see all the related shrines on the mountain where they are located.
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| The Konpira-gu. |
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| This structure exhibits some historical paintings related to sea farers. |
The Kagawa Prefecture is known for Sanuki Udon, supposedly the best Udon noodle in Japan. I had only one chance to have a bowl in Kagawa, which was truly marvelous.
TOKUSHIMA
As soon as I got to the city of Tokushima, the capital of the Tokushima Prefecture, I realized I had enough time to go to see the notorious whirlpools of the Naruto Strait and to come back to the city in time for Awa Odori.
The straight of Naruto, between Shikoku and the small island of Awaji, is so narrow that the tide causes the whirlpools where many people have disappeared over centuries. There is a nicely set platform under the bridge over the straight, in order, I guess, to view people disappearing in the whirlpools. I don't think I had seen such whirlpools before, but the ones I saw were rather small.
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| The bridge over the Naruto Strait with ships trying to cross it. |
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| One of the whirlpools I saw from the bridge platform. |
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| Then I saw this ship a few minutes later. |
After getting back to the Tokushima City and going up a hill top viewpoint of the city by a ropeway I went to see Awa Odori, or the Awa Dance, the most famous dance festival, as well as one of the two most famous Bon Odoris, in Japan. Awa is the name of the area before the Meiji Restoration. This festival attracts 1.3 million spectators over 4 days during the Bon period in August. The Bon is similar to Halloween in that it is held to remember the dead.
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| Awa Odori. |
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| Awa Odori. |
I went to see the Kanto festival and the Nebuta festival in the Tohoku region last year, where there was a procession of floats, with dancers in between. In comparison this Awa Odori was just a procession of dancers, and I thought it was not as interesting to see. That is perhaps why the Nebuta and the Kanto festivals attract more spectators. Some Awa dancers are even scheduled to demonstrate their skill in Paris later this year. I hope Parisians won't get too bored.
KOHCHI
The Kohchi Prefecture is in the south of Shikoku, and it has a subtropical climate.
On the way from the Tokushima City to the city of Kochi, the capital of the Kochi Prefecture, I stopped at the Muroto Cape, a popular seascape destination. It was just ok.
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| The Muroto Cape. |
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| The Muroto Cape. |
The Kohchi Prefecture is particularly known as the birthplace of Ryoma Sakamoto, perhaps the single most important figure who brought the end to the Shogunate (militaristic rules) and the restoration of the Monarchy (but the parliamentary monarchy for the first time) to Japan in 1868. But he was not able to see the actual transition, as he was assassinated in 1867 at the age of 31.
As soon as I got to the Kohchi City I hopped on a bus to the Katsura Beach, a pretty beach with a large statue and a museum of Mr. Sakamoto.
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| The statue of Ryoma Sakamoto. |
The Katsura Beach was not just a beach but was a rather picturesque beach, like, say, the Carmel Beach in California.
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| The Katsura Beach. |
On the way back to Kochi City I stopped at a hill top view point for the city and the Chikurin-ji, or the Chikurin Buddhist Temple, on the 88 Buddhist temple-circuit in Shikoku, perhaps the best known Buddhist pilgrimage route in Japan.
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| A path leading to Chikurin-ji. |
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| Chikurin-ji. |
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| The Pagoda at the Chikurin-ji. |
Back in the Kochi City I went to see the castle, the top attraction of the city, with a city tram, the oldest tram in Japan. The tram's hub was at the Hariyama Bridge.
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| The Harimaya Bridge in the center of the Kohchi City is related to some romantic legend of a Buddhist monk at Chikurin-ji. |
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| The Kohchi Castle. |
Despite the fact that it was heavily raining all over Japan during the week, I
was rather lucky not to encounter that problem during my trip, until I took the second of the
three trains I was going to take to get from the Kochi City to the city of
Matsuyama, the capital of the Ehime Prefecture. The train was forced to stop at
a Mujin-eki, small train station with no attendants, due to the heavy rain, and
about 90 minutes later we were picked up by a bus to get to a nearby train
hub.
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| This Bullet Train was forced to remain at this Mujin-eki by the heavy rain falling around its destination. |
EHIME
After arriving in the Matsuyama city I visited the famed castle on top of a hill. The castle is supposed to be one of the best preserved in Japan, but I had never seen such a fat Japanese castle before.
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| The Matsuyama Castle. |
After checking in my hotel I headed out to the blockbuster attraction of the city, Dogo Onsen, or the Dogo Hot Spring, the oldest hot spring - spa in the hot spring-crazed Japan.
The three-storied wooden spa structure was certainly very atmospheric, but the service was horrendous. The several hundred years old locker room had no air conditioners or fans, and by the time I put back on my clothes and left the spa I was already sweaty.
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| The facade of the Dogo Onsen. |
The city of Matsuyama is known as the place where Soseki Natsume, the most famous novelist in the modern period of Japan (after 1968), spent part of his life, and in fact one of his most popular novels, Bocchan, takes place at Dogo Onsen.
CENTRAL HONSHU (CHUBU REGION)
GIFU
The city of Gujou is in the Gifu prefecture, not far from where I spent my first 18 years in Japan.
I grew up hearing about Gujou Odori, the all-night dancing that is one of the two most famous Bon Odoris in Japan along with Awa Odori. So I decided to check them both out during this trip.
Unlike Awa Odori with a procession of trained dancers, Gujou Odori was more like a traditional Bon Odori where all dancers were the general public who chose to participate in the dance. I had thought that people danced like crazy all night at this festival, but that was not the case. They danced the traditional steps on narrow city streets, supposedly all night.
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| Gujou Odori. |
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| Gujou Odori. |
On my last day of this trip it was heavily raining. I left my guesthouse at 9:15 am for a 9:30 am train from a Mujin-eki and waited for the train to come until 10 am. This mujin-eki was one station north of the Gujou train station.
While waiting, I started taking photos of the Nagara River, which was totally raging with rain water. It may have been a perfect day for rafting.
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| The Nagara River was about to overflow. |
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| Some waves were higher than the top of the bank. |
CONCLUSION
I explored the far western Honshu region (Chugoku region) and the far eastern Honshu region (Tohoku region) last year and then Shikoku this year, but I have to say Shikoku had the least exciting things to see.
That said, I am glad that I made this trip to finish off Shikoku.
The highlights were the whirlpools of Naruto, the Awa Odori and the Dogo Hot Spring. In Honshu the King Nintoku's Tomb and the Gujou Odori were both interesting.
When I traveled in the far eastern Honshu region in August last year, I told myself "I would never travel in Japan in summer again!" due to the unbearably hot and humid climate. But I did it again this August in order to check out the Awa Odori and the Gujou Odori that take place during the Bon period in August. But due to the bad weather during the week in Japan, which eventually did not disrupt my trip, I was traveling mostly in cloudy days, which was rather a relief.
Now only the island of Kyushu remains to be seen in order for me to finish off Japan.
Mick Nishikawa
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