Keep Calm and Go for a Stroll

Sunday, April 21, 2024

The Seto Inland Sea is a large, calm body of water lying between the main Japanese islands of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. It boasts a Mediterranean climate and some 3,000 islands. We took a train from Okayama to Takamatsu, on Shikoku, in the morning. It only took an hour, but it was interesting crossing the Seto Inland Sea on the Great Seto Bridge, while riding on the top level of a double-decker railroad car. This will be our first visit to Shikoku.

Takamatsu is the capital of Kagawa Prefecture. Its population is about 420,000, making it the largest city on Shikoku. Government and transportation seem to be the main drivers of the economy here. Tourism is quite obviously not a major factor in the economy. We couldn’t fail to notice the absence of English signage, English menus in restaurants, and the low level of wayfinding aids such as maps and directional signs. I must give a tip of the hat to the Visitor Information center in the train station, however. The staff there were knowledgeable and helpful both times I sought information there.

There are a lot of covered shopping streets in Japan, which are called “arcades.” Takamatsu really has a lot of arcades. Perhaps that indicates that it rains a lot here. It was definitely drizzly today. Our hotel is connected to an arcade, so it is possible to go to a convenience store, a grocery store, several restaurants, and othe assorted places without going outside in the sense that you would not be under some sort of cover. The end of the arcades are open to the air, and they are open here and there on the sides, where streets cross through them. I wish we had managed to take some photos of one of the arcades.

Our hotel starts on the 8th floor of a building, and goes to the 12th. To get to our room you have to take an elevator from the ground to 8, enter the hotel lobby, and then take a different elevator up to our room on 11. It looks like there is a parking garage on 4 through 7. 

After arriving and leaving our luggage at the hotel we went to Ritsurin Garden. It has been designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. I agree. I think it was even more beautiful than the Koraku-en Garden in Okayama. It is worth a side trip to Takamatsu if you are in Okayama or anywhere on Shikoku.

Ritsurin is a “strolling-style” garden built by a daimyo (feudal lord) about 400 years ago. It became a public garden in 1875. Here’s a blurry map of the garden, showing two suggested walking routes. (I will try to find a better download when I get home.) We did the blue route and half of the red.

This is a large garden. It contains 1400 pine trees, as well as many chestnut trees. Ritsurin means “chestnut groves.” We missed the cherry blossoms here, but the azaleas were just getting started, and they were uplifting.

I can’t describe how enjoyable it was to wander through this garden. Every view was brilliantly planned and executed by true masters of landscape design.

I don’t know what this gorgeous shrub was.

A pair of stately chestnut trees

This is a man-made waterfall, created hundreds of years ago to impress one of the daimyos.

A teahouse

surprisingly tropical-looking trees

This pine tree is a type of tree with a complicated shape that is only found in Ritsurin.
It is called hako-matsu.

Around every curve in the path was another delightful surprise or something interesting, or something stunningly beautiful. It made me feel so much joy.

Today’s fabric is Chestnuts on Green, by elinnet for Spoonflower.