Let me introduce myself. My name is Misato Shiida .I was born in Utazu town ,Kagawaken, Japan on October 6th,1980,(^ ^;I am a second year student at Kagawa Junior College. My major is Management and Information.My hobby is sleeping.
Takamatsu,an old castle town, now a sister city of St.Pertersburg., Fla.,USA,has been the capital of Kagawa prefecture for about a hundred years. Irrigated bythe River Koto,protected by Yashima and Goshiki-dai lava mesas, its centre is the plitical,the national government, major companes and banks further active the city, while the local colleges, librares, theatres and mass media offer various cultural experiences to the kagawa public.
The city and its suburbs have much in store for tourists, too. Some attractions are manoreal or landscape architecture, some are panoramic, while others are of hisutorical, relibious, aesthetic or folklorstic interest.. Most are conveniently accessible by city buses, sightseeingbuses, trains,taxis,taxis and window-shopping in the downtown arcades can be just as enjoyable. So can thenight life.
Tamamo Park，neatly embowered by ancient pine trees，provides a calm refuge from the busy tram and bus terminals， spontaneously attracting many local people as turists．
Originally the park was part of Takamatsu-jo Castle，founded in 1590 by Ikoma Chikamasa． Then it was taken over by the 4 generations of Lord Ikoma as governor of Sanuki，and again by the 11 generations of Lord Matsudaira as gomernor of the takamatsu-han．
The seaside castle was poprlarly known by its charming nickname of Tmamo-jo（Pearly Seaweed Castle ），because it was built so as to be well-guarded by the sea itself，which was skilfully channelled to be well-guarded by the sea itself, which was skifully channelled to be well-guarded by the sea itself,which was skilfully channelled to fill the triple moats around it.That is why it was called a“marine castle，”― one of the very few examples in this country. In fact, the northern ramparts used to be washed by the waves until 1900, when the shore was reclaimed to build a harbour.
Successive tides of modernization had encroached upon this ancient castle untile 1954 ,when one-ninth of the original site was preserved by the city as a park and was preseved by the city as a park and was registered as a Historic Site,while the rest had been replaced by roads,tramlines, schools,public buidings and residential areas. The air raid.The air raid in1945 destroyed some of the remaining buildings in the castle site.Yet all the place names in the ruined castle are still retained in this park.
Ushitora Yagura Turret
This beautiful 3-storied turret is an Important Cultural Property,one of the 2remaining turrets out of the 15that used to tower here,guarding the 120,000 koku of Takamatsu-han.
Sakura-no-Baba
Formerly a hippodrome, now a playground mainly for children and senior citizens.It is also a picnic area in early April when cherry blossms are in full bloom . The Children'sFestival is held here on May 5,the national Children's Day.
Chinretsu-kan Museum
At the entrance to the hall are elegant scrolls bearing the coat of the Matsudairas.The a hall houses some of the belongings and mementoes of the Takamatsu-han, including swords, guns,armour,old maps,writings and photos.
Hiunkaku Palace
This Japanese-style plain wood mansion houses the Parak Office and a number of formal rooms including a hall as wide as 142 tataami mats (230㎡) . Now these are places where local people gather to enjoy cultural activities .The orginal mansion, twice as large as this one,was the government office and the lord's residence for many generation
Tsukimi yagura
this Lookout Turret,an Important Cultural Property, over looking the Inland Sea for more than 300 years, has always been a welcome landmark to sailors and ferry passengers. Beautifully illuminated at night ,it still remains a symbol of Takamatsu.
Mizute Gomon Gate
This gate, an Important Cultural Property , was where the lord boarded his ship. Lord Matsudaira I also enjoyed swimming at this port using a special technique called Suinin-ryu originated by Imaizumi. Encouraged by the lord and his successors, more and more people came to learn it.Now it an Intangible Cultural Property registered by the City. Members of the Suinin-ryu Swimming club annually demonstrate their skill on January 3 at Omatoba Beach.
Matsudaira Yorshige
Matsudaira Yorishige, the first lord of Takamatsu-han is revered by local people with gratitude for his readiness to help the people in time of need.
It was in 1642,when he was 21, that Yorishige,a grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was sent to Takamatsu to govern East Sanuki.
In his 2nd year in Takamatsu,he saw a serious drought for the first time , even though it was often the case in this part of the country . He saw poor peasants tottering with a kettle in the dry fields, applying their precious water to each of the undergrown rice-plants, while townspeople wearily made a daily trip to Kameido Sprithern end of Tamamo-jo Castle to get their drinking water.
Yorishige consulted Yanobe heiroku, an expert civil engineer he had brought from Edo, the Capital. The old soldier suggested drawing water from Kameido Spring to earch house in the town.
There were neither iron pipes nor ones in those days.But Heiroku, making pipes of wood and bamboo, burided them deep in the ground. By the next year (1644) they were completed, and cited as the first waterworks in Japan.
The following year saw another drought. Again Yorishige was quite ready to follow Heiroku's advice, this time to build many more reservoirs. The farmers,greatly pleased, worked very hard, directed by Heroku and some other specialsts invited here by Yorishige. By the end of the same year, they had built as many as 406 new reservoirs, adding to the 960 old ones. No wonder people generation after generation thankfully remeembered Yorishige, who had spared them a lot of misery even in a cruelest spell of dry weather.
During the 34years of his rule, Yorishige proved himself an able governor, promoting local industries such as salt-farming, weaving and pottery, while supporting many temples and shrines, thus encouraging learning and education.These achievements eastblished a solid foundation for the Matsudaira lordship which lasted for 228 years until 1869, the 2nd year of Meiji.
Ritsurin Koen Park
Ritsurin Park, a National Special Scenic Spot, is one of the largest and most beautiful landscape gardens in this country. Situated at the southern edge of downtown at the foot of Mt. Shiun, 200 m high, it is always a refreshing place to visit. The spacious gardens, exquisitely laid out with a number of shapely mounds, several cool ponds and many trees of rare shapes, provide scores of choice landscapes, with their ever-changing seasonal charms of flowers,blossoms, tinted leaves or pads of snow.
The park is divided into 2partーNan-tei or the South Garden made in the Edo Perlod, and Hoku-tei or the North Garden from the Meiji era.
The South Garden, to the left of the main East Gate ,is the more spectacular of the two .Its origin dates back to the end of the 16th century, when it belonged to a local warlord, and then to Lord Ikoma. From 1642, when it was taken over by the Matsudairas, 5 generations of Matsudaira lords demeloped it into a lager and stroll-type landscape garden for Fukiage Gyoen or what is known today as the Inner Garden of the Imprial Palace―one of the masterworks of Kobori Enshu, the most talented garden designer in the Edo Period.
Thousands of trees of about 160 varieties including the celebated kuromatsu or dark-trunked pine are carefully tended and artistically timmed. The ponds. highlighted by neat islands and pretty bridges, are lively with ducks and multi-coloured carp. Visitors may enjyoy entering one of the pond-side teahouses for a cup of Japanese tea and cake.
The North Garden, to the right from the east entrance, has more open space for picnickers. It was built in 1913, on the site of the Matsudairas'Ducking Ground.
shoko shorei-kan
(Sanple Fair Halls for Products of Kagawa)
Here are displayed a variety of traditional products of Sanuki ーlacquer ware, chinaware, eathenware, stoneware, bamboo ware, clogs, gloves, botaori fabric, paper umbrellas and parasols, uchiwa paper fans, ittobori caraings, toys,udon and somen noodles, Japanese wine, olive products, cakes and candies. They are all for sale.Sometimes in the North Hall, a special exhibition is held to display the celebrated lacquer ware or other wpecialties.
Kikugetu-tei teahouse
Kikugetsu-tei, a fine teahouse now, used to be one of the formal buildings for the Matsudairas. Because of its name meaning "Momn-Scooping Cottage,"it is suggested that this was where the Matsudairas enjoyed moon-viewing parties with their invited guests. The original builting is gone, but the present likeness was restored in 1965. Adomission:\300
Sanuki mingei-kan Museum
This museum exhibits folkcrafts manufactured by techniques native to Sanuki as well as articles from other destricts adopted for use in Sanuki.
HOko-san
This simple papier-mache doll called Hoko-san(Dear Little Maid) is a mascot of the local people . One often hears the following story:
Long ago, there lived a man and his wife in Takamatsu. They had a pretty doughter, whom they loved dearly. One day she fell ill. Her nursed her most tenderly day and night. But in stead of getting any better, she got worse and worse every day.
They had a nurse-maid called Omaki. She was only about 10 years old. Now she was very sad to see the poor little child getting weaker and weaker. She was sad for the master and mistress, too, who had been so kind to her since she came to live with them a few years befor.
Omaki wandered what she could do to help them. She had already done everthing she could. But what else could she do to save the life of this beloved one ? Then she thought of performing "the 21-night-could-water-ablution, "praying for the child's recovery ―hardest ascetic practice she could offer to buddha so that her heart-felt wish could be heard.
It was winter. But every midnight, she went down to the well to perform the ceremony, unnoticed ―pouring pails of icy water over herself. 20 days passed. But the little one was now dying. It was her last night. She prayed to Buddha for the last time and poured the water again and again and again.......
Next morning, the maid was found dead at the frozen well.Then, the man and his wife found their little one getting better and better every day until she was quite well again. How thankful they were! They always remenbered "Dear Little Maid",saying she had died for their own daughter's sake.
In former days this doll had some practical use. When a child got ill, this doll was put into its bed for one night to be thrown away into the sea the nezt moring. It was believed to have taken away the illness.
Chuo Koen Park
Chuo Koen in the heart of downtown Takamatsu is an oasis for office workers and citizens, providing a fine place for open-air concerts, fairs, events and performances.
The biggest event held here is the Takamatsu-matsuri Festival on August 12 through 14. The finale is Takamatsu-odori Dancing on the evening of 14, when local people in community groups and office groups in special kimono unijorms joyously parade down the main street, finally to dance round and round in this park till late at night.
Kikuchi Kan
― A Popular Writer & Cultural Leader ―
Kikuchi kan, a distinguished son of Takamatsu, is remembered as a leading figure of Japan's literay and press circles during the precarious 1920's and 30's. He was popular novelist and play-wright, the founder and editor of Bungei Shunju, a most influen-tial literary monthly even today. The 2 most prestigious literary prizes―the Akutagawa Prize and the Naoki Prize―were also estblished by through this magazine.
Hiroshi (Kan was his pen name) was born in downtown Takamatsu as the 3rd son of a school office clerk. His graund father was a samurai-scholar with a small fief. Even as a school boy he was a bookworm. When the City Library opened in 1905, he was the first to get a library card. In a year or two, he had read all the 20,000 volumes in that library. He was a precocious writer, too .He won prizes in 2essay contests(metropoletan and national) before he was 20.
At21, he went up to Tokyo to study. He immensely enjoyed visiting libraries and theares, making friends with promising writers, including Akutagawa Ryunosuke 芥川竜之介, in whose memory he was to establish the Akutagawa Prize in 1935. But Hiroshi valued freedom, frienddship and self-integrity over school regulations and conformity to goody-goodies. So he had to leave one school after another, until he finally found himself in Kyoto. At 26, he became a student of English literature at Kyoto University, fuom which he graduated at 29.
2 years later, while working as newspaper reporter, he wrote and published Mumei sakka no nikki (The Diary of an Unknown Writer), which turned out to be a gerat success. Soon he was writihg short stories, plays and melodramatic novels in great numbers. The play Chichi kaeru (The Father Returns), first published in 1917 only to be ignored, now created a great sensation on stage at a major commercial theatre in Tokyo.
All through the 1920's and militant 30's he was active as a leading moderate among journalists, launching Bungei Shunju (1923), forming what later developed into Japan's Professional Writer's Guild, helping unknown writers further their careers through his magazine and its Prizes mentioned above. But when World War Ⅱended in 1945, his authority in press circles circles declied as he was associated with the militarstic era.
In1965, the Kikuchi Kan Prize. It is award to the best local writer of the year. His statue in the Chuo Koen Park close to his birthplace.
Iwaseo Hachiman-gu Shrine
Iwaseo Haciman-gu Shrine houses the guardian gods of Takamatu. It attracts 200,000 vistors during the New Year, while providing a popular place for wedding ceremonise all the year round.
According to Chronicle it was founded in 918 as a branch of Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu in Kyoto. Lord Matsudaira I was a major contributor to its restoration and prosperity.
Its Grand festival on October 14 and 15 is a fine occasion to visit there. The deities are borne in a palanquin (mikoshi) for a half-kilometer ride downtown, accompanied by the beating floats of drums and bells. The approach, temporarily closed to vehicular traffic, is alive with rows of stalls. The Spring Fair on May 2 and 3 is an other festive occasion.
On top of Mt. Iwaseo (200m) rising to the southwest of Iwaseo Hachiman-gu, there extends a recreation parkーMineyama Koen 峰山公園