Takamatsu the capital of Kagawa Prefecture, which has taditionally been called the gateway to Shikoku, the Seto lnland Sea like a porch.
JR Takamatsu Station next to Takamatsu Harbor is the termenal of the Kotoku Line for Tokushema 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.Takamatsu Chikko Just opposite JR Station is the terminal of Kotoden trams to and from Kotohira, the seat of 'Kompira-san'.
The New Takamatsu Airport handles non-stop flights to and from Seoul, Korea
Aakamatsu became the capital in 1587 with the advent of lord lkoma l 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 nin th of the formercastle ground is preserved as Tamamo Koen Park 玉藻公園 across the street from JR Takamatsu Station. The donjon is gone, but two of the 15 turrets and Mizute Gomon Gate from the 17thcentury (Important Cultural Properties) survived the air raid in 1945. Admission:\100.
Traditionally the popular sightseeing spots in Takamatsu are Ritsurin Koen Park near downtown and the lnland Sea. They are accessible by bus or tram,with terminals at Takamatsu Chikko 高松築港 just opposite JR Station.
Ritsurin Koen Park 栗林公園
◎30 minutes' walk fron JR Takamatsu Station.
Ｔhe busy street in front of JR Takamatsu is the mainstreet of downtown Takamatsu, nd leads to the maingate to Ritsurin 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 formeditation.
Orihinally it belonged to a local warlord, and then to lord lkoma. When it was transferred to the Matsudairas, they spent five generations developing it into a larger strooll-type garden for their villa.Seasonsl 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, lrises and water lilies in June, giant lotuses in August, and Japanese bush clover in September and brilliant maple leaves in November add to the pleasure of strolling.
Kikugetsu-tei掬月亭,one of the pond-side teahouses, was originally one of the Matsudsiras formal buildings. The museum just inside the maingate 讃岐民芸館 houses a variety of mostly local handicrafts. There is a zoo, too, inside the gate.
Open daily. Admission to the park:About \300.
Ｂｕｓ:30 minutes' ride from Chikko to the terminal
(Kotoden Bus for Yashima-sanuo or Yashima
Hilltop 屋島山上）.
Tram+Cable:30minutes' tram ride from Chikko
to Yashima (Shido-sen Line 志度線+5 menutes
cable-car ride.
Yashima, a pine-wooded tableland to the northeast of downtown Takamatau, is one of the world's rare lava mesas,about 290m high, 3 km wide, jutting 5 km out into the sea.
The hilltop, overlooking the archipelago of the Inland Sea, features Yashima-ji (No.84) 屋島寺 ①,anaquarium ② and observatories all linked by forest promenades.
One of the observatories, Dankorei談古嶺 ③, commands a view of the inlet fringed with memorials to the Gempei Yashema Battle (the second last battle in Gempei War fought between the two rival clans, the Minamotos and the Tairas).
Once a British poet, Edmund Blunden, visited Yashema and wrote a poen that was enhraved on a stone here at Dankorei observatory:
Like a long roof, men say, and will they say,
This hill of warrior ghosto surmounts the plain....
In 794 Kyoto bicame 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*1 took place in the capital,thus opening up a new era domenated by martial enotions. 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 Minamotos. 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'sdaughter.They wandered far in search of srpporters, while fighting loseng battles.
Now in 1185, Minamoto no Yoshitsrne *2 attacked the remaining Tairas here at Yashima, then at Dan-no-ura in the westernmost corner of the Inland Sea, where the proud Taira finally fell, the noblewomen casting themselves 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 屋島寺 treasures in i ts museum afolding screen depicting the Gempei no Kassen Battles, (See p.42) 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 Yashema Festival is held, whose highlight is the Warriors'Pageant.
*1 It was an insurrection caused by the discord between Emperor Goshirakawa (1127-92) and Ex-Emperor Sutoku (1119-64). Sutoku was defeated and banished to Sanuki (Kagawa Pref.) 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. (See p.50)
*2 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 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 Kabuki,Noh and Joruri plays, based on what is called Yoshitsune Literature.
Very few Japanese visit Yashima without being reminded of an episode showh in the picture above:
It was on the afternoon of February 19, 1185, that Minanoto no Yoshitsune 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 hours.
Now the sun was setting. Both sides began to retreat, when a fair vessel parted from the Taira legions and stopped about 80 m fron the beach.Then abeautiful lady appeared from the cabin, produced apole with a bright red fan on i ts 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.
0r she may be inviting you to come out onto the front line for her archers,”said his attendant.
“Then let it be shot down by soneone,”said Yoshetsune.
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 wasfluttering on the pole.
All the Tairas in the boats and all the Minamotos on the shore were watching Yoiche. What would he do? would he succeed?
Yoichi rode into the water as far as he could. But it was still about 70m to the target. He closed his eyes and prayed. Then the wind fell for a moment. He shot. The arrow pidrced through a little above the rivet. The fan, fllying up a moment or two, came floating down, glittering in the setting sun. There was great applause fron 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. Some said, "Good shot!" But others said, "Not fair."
The Tsiras were silent this time. Was it aprecursor of their demise? Two months later, the Tairas finally fell.
Shikoku-mura Museum 四国村 ◎ ３ minutes' walk after leaving the bus at
Toshogu-mae東照宮前. (Kotoden Bus:
Yashima-sanjo --Toshogu-mae --Chikko)
◎ 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, including a Farmers' Kabuki Theater, peasants' houses, 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 Iyayama-son, too. (p.173)
0pen daily: 8:30-16:30. Admission: \500
0n May 5, people including children from Shodoshima Island, fron which the Kabuki Theater came here, stage an annual performance of their traditional farmers'kabuki.
Takamatsu Heike Monogatari Historical Museum
高松平家物語歴史館 ◎ ３ minutes' walk from Nihon Tabako-mae 日本タバコ前 Bus Stop after 10 minutes' ride from JR Takamatsu.
( Kotoden Bus: Asahimachi 朝日町 Line)
◎ minutes' walk fron JR Takamatsu Station.
Japan' largest wax doll museum. The first floor is dedicated to the 41 dolls of hestorical figures or modern men and women of celebrity who have been closely associated with Shikoku.
The one of Kobo Daishe (p.190-199) in his nyujo (p.195) has its own corner as a special exhibition.
The other dolls include:
Sakamoto Ryoma 坂本龍馬 （ｐ.１２４－１２７）
Nakaoka Shintaro 中岡慎太郎（ｐ.１２４,１４３）
Nakahama Manuiro 中浜万次郎（ｐ.１３９－１４２）
Wenceslau de Moraes (p.162-163)
Inokuma Gentchiro 猪熊弦一郎（art：ｐ.４６）
Takahama Kyoshi 高浜虚子（ｐ.７３）
Ninomiya Chuhachi 二宮忠八 （ｐ.９２）
Setouchi Jakucho 瀬戸内寂聴 （Iiｔｅrature：１９２２－）
Makino Tomitaro 牧野富太郎（ｐ.１３２）
Yasuoka Shotaro 安岡章太郎（Iiterature：１９２０－）
Kagawa Toyohiko 賀川豊彦（religion,social work,Iiterature：１８８８－１９６０）
Yokoyama Ryuichi 横山隆一（cartoons：１９０９－）
Terada Torahiko 寺田寅彦（science,essay：１８７８－１９３５）
Abe Yoshishige 阿部能成（philosophy,education：１８８８－１９６６）
Nambara Shigeru 南原繁（philosophy,education：１８８８－１９７４）
Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規（ｐ.70,７３－７４）
Kotoku Shusui 幸徳秋水(p.１３７）
Nakae Chomin 中江兆民（ｐ.１３７）
Kikuchi Kan 菊地寛（Iiterature：１８８８－１９４８）
Manabe Hiroshi真鍋博（illustration：１９３２－）
Yoshida Shigeru*吉田茂
I tagaki Taisuke 板垣退助（ｐ.１２８－１２９）
The second floor exhibits about 300 dolls portraying the17 scenes from the Heike Monogatari or The Tale of the Tairas. The Saga,composed of a large number of revealing episodes, was ane still is an inexhaustibli source of Japanese literature and art. Some of the most famous scenes took place at the foot of Yashima Plateau at the northeastern tip of Takamatsu (p.35).
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 araveled 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 worldly 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.
The Valiant must perish,too,as
Frail as dust blown by a puff of wind.
The doll begins to talk and sing the first line of the opening passage when it senses visitors approaching.
0pen daily.Admission:\1200
(High school students:\800 Children:\600)
* Yoshida Shigeru (1878-1967), Prime Minister from1946 to 1954, is credited with giving Japan direct-ion through her most difficult times after the war.
The Seto Ohashi Bridge The Kojima-Sakaide Route, popularly knoown as the Seto Ohashi Bridge 瀬戸大橋, was completed in 1988.It is the world's longest two-tiered bridge system,stretcheng 13.1 km from Kouima to Sakaide,connecting 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 in 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 大久保譲の丞 （１８４９－１８９１）,a Kagawa native,who at that time was constructing the first Shikoku Roads to link all the prefectures on the island. In 1889 Jinnojo disclosek his dream in a congratulatory apeech he made as a meber of the Prefectural Parliament at the opening ceremony of the first railroad in Shikoku between Marugame and Kotohera (p.51).
Exactly a century later, the Bridge came into being after decades of planning and ten years of construction, 13 million workers involved (with the loss of 17 lives), and costing 1,190,000 million yen.
Surprisingly,Jinnojohad also foretold man'a traveling to the moon in his favorite drink-ing 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 与島 ①,a central pier of the Bridge. It also serves as a sightseeing outpost for the Shikoku and Inland Sea Districts, providing 2 parking areas for those who like to enjoy bridge-viewing, seafook and shopping.
◎To Yoshima: 25 minutes fron JR Sakaide by bus.
(See p.22)
Another is a rotating tower 132 m tall at the Seto Ohashi Mimorisl park ② 瀬戸大橋記念公園 at the foot of tyhe Bridge in Sakaide. The Memorial Hall Provides all kinda of information on the Bridge and its Construction, while the park itself applies modern art to stone and water.
Admission to the tower:\800.
Admission to the Hall:\510.
◎To the Seto Ohashi Memorial Park: 10 minutes fron JR Sakaide by shuttle bus (frii of charge).