Japan travel to Shikoku What attractions to visit

Bridges, Eddy Tides, and Awa Dance in Shikoku, Japan

Talking to a friend about going to Shikoku, Japan, my friend asked, "Besides Japan, what 3 other countries are you going to visit?" Stuck for words for a moment.

After arriving in Shikoku and Japanese drama about it, the other side was actually full of shame: "Sorry, sorry, Shikoku is too small."

Japan's land is mainly composed of four large islands - Honshu, Kyushu, Hokkaido and Shikoku - and Shikoku is the smallest of them all, with a total **** of only four prefectures - Tokushima, Kagawa, Kochi and Ehime. Shikoku is bordered by the Seto Inland Sea to the north, Honshu, Japan's largest island, and the Pacific Ocean to the south.

Shikoku appears on the map to be a small piece of land floating alone on the sea, but its unique geographic location puts it at the center of the action. Since the 7th century, merchant ships have sailed from here to China and other parts of Asia, known as Japan's Maritime Silk Road; during the Sui and Tang dynasties, Japanese students sent to China traveled to Chang'an via the Seto Inland Sea. By the time Japan's economy took off in the 1970s and 1980s, Shikoku had become even more of an integral part. To date, four bridges connect it to Honshu, the home of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe: the Seto Ohashi Bridge, the Ohnaruto Bridge + Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, and the Shimanami Kaido. Of these, the Seto Ohashi Bridge is the world's longest and most majestic dual-purpose railroad and highway bridge; the Akashi Strait Bridge is the world's longest bridge across the sea.

It is impossible to visit Shikoku without seeing the Seto Ohashi Bridge. It is often said that there are three peoples in the world who have three great specialties: the Dutch are good at enclosing the sea to make fields, the Swiss are good at drilling mountains to make roads, and the Japanese are good at building bridges across the sea. Seto Ohashi Bridge is a symbol of the development of Shikoku and sightseeing attractions, but also the pride of Japanese bridge builders and a major milestone in the world's bridge-building industry.

Seto Ohashi Bridge, connecting Okayama Prefecture in Honshu and Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku across the sea, is 13 kilometers long, with a sea portion of about 10 kilometers. The main bridge towers are 194 meters high, and the bridge trusses are 65 meters above the sea surface, allowing even large tankers to pass through with ease. The bridge was completed in April 1988 after a total investment of 1.12 trillion yen and nine and a half years. If there were a list of the world's top 10 must-see bridges, Seto Ohashi would be on it.

Seto Bridge, preferred by boat, helicopter or car, but can not play like the San Francisco Bridge and Nampo Bridge directly on the bridge to walk.

Kuribayashi Park, a Japanese garden

Have long heard that the Japanese garden layout is exquisite, make good use of colorful plants and flowers to create the mood and unique, this time to go to Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, have the opportunity to visit the Japanese national attractions - Kuribayashi Park. Said park, in fact, is a return to the style of Japan's Edo period daimyo garden, from about 370 years ago, by the Takamatsu vassals Ikoma family took more than 100 years to build.

The entire garden covers an area of 750,000 hectares, borrowing the view of the green Ziyun Mountain, skillfully placed 13 rockeries, 6 ponds, South Lake in the south, North Lake in the north, West Lake in the west; fine planting of flowers and trees in all seasons, plum blossoms in February, cherry blossoms in April, lotus blossoms in August, maple leaves in November. The craftsmanship is profound, the method is exquisite, really is called "a step a scene, a season a color".

Mingmen Vortex Tide: The World's Tides

The vortex tide is a large-scale vortex on the sea surface created by the interaction of the ocean's rising and falling tides, and it's a spectacular sight. There are four major eddies in the world: the Charybdis eddy off the coast of Calabria in Southern Italy, the Messina eddy in the straits between Sicily and Italy, the Great Eddy in the Lofoten Islands off the coast of Norway, and the Naruto eddy. I didn't realize that Naruto City, with a population of only 1,600, had such a great view.

Naruto City actually has two major attractions. One is the Great Naruto Cable-stayed Bridge, which spans Naruto and Awaji Island and is the main sea artery connecting Shikoku and Kobe, with a total length of 1,629 meters. The other is the Great Eddy Tide under the bridge, but the latter is more famous. The Naruto Eddy Tide surges in the strait just 1,300 meters between Sunsaki and Awaji Island in Naruto City, and is created when the currents of the Seto Inland Sea and the Kii Waterway meet due to the difference in the timing of the rise and fall of the two, and is most prevalent in spring and fall, with whirlpools that can reach a maximum diameter of 20 meters and speeds of 20 kilometers per hour.

Awa Odori (Awa Dance), a national dance

When I first heard about the Awa Odori dance in Tokushima, I thought it was a foreign dance. In fact, it is one of the most representative traditional dances in Tokushima. There are three theories about its origin. The first is the Bon Odori dance, which can be seen all over Japan; the second is that during the Tensho period (1574-1592), to celebrate the completion of the construction of Tokushima Castle by the Monsuka family, citizens began to dance around the castle, and this dance has continued to this day; and the third is that it was influenced by one of the origins of Nogaku, "Furyu," which is described as a dance held at Katsushige Castle in 1663 in the "Miyoshi Shiki (Record of Three Good Things)". In 1663, there was a record of a furyu dance held in Katsuragi Castle. The second version of the story is the most popular.

The Awa Odori Festival, held in Tokushima from August 12 to 15 every year, is the largest summer festival in Tokushima and Shikoku, and the most representative dance festival in Japan in August. For four days from August 12, mats are spread out at seven locations that serve as the main venues, and more than 50 dance troupes, young and old, dance wildly from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., one after the other, in the evening. Onlookers watching can't help but wiggle their bodies, too."

Tokushima City has built an Awa Odori Kaikan (Awa Dance Hall) to make Awa Odori accessible to a wide range of people, so that visitors can enjoy the dance all year round and experience it for themselves.

Awa Odori is also known as "the dance of the hands". At the Awa Odori Hall, we watched the men's and women's dances of the "Famous Company" and "Exclusive Company" dance troupes. The dance movements are not complicated, but basically follow the rhythm of 2 beats, and as long as you grasp the basic principles, you can make some individuality in the dance by doing something with your hands and feet. The main action is the body should be for the collapse of the waist, but the upper body straight, the second is to be the right hand and the right foot, the left hand and the left foot rotation at the same time forward outstretched. I remember in school to do formation drills, who if the right hand right foot and step out, will certainly cause ridicule, I did not expect here also the opposite.

Aiwon: The Oldest Soup

A local proverb says that once you've soaked in the hot springs of Dogo, there's nothing left to lose in life! Dogo Onsen is said to be the oldest hot spring in Japan, with a history of 3,000 years. Built in 1894, the Dogo Onsen Main Building is a majestic wooden castle-like building, three stories high, with carved beams and ornate decorations, topped with a bronze bird of prey, and the eaves of the first floor are trimmed with several tambourine doors characteristic of ancient Japanese architecture.

Other attractions: the eastern part of Aiwon Prefecture, Ishihock Mountain is known for its majestic appearance, the peaks of which are as high as a sword thrusting into the sky, and is the highest peak in Western Japan. The towel museum in Imabari City is also very famous.

Kagawa: foot-stomping udon dough

The Japanese are good at absorbing foreign cultures and developing the crafts that came from China into something uniquely their own. Today, Kagawa is the home of udon noodles, which have become an essential staple of the Japanese diet, and wafu, which is an important symbol of Japanese culture.

Other attractions: The Golden Dagger Birao Shrine, climb the 785 steps from the Sandokuchi to the top of the mountain, is a must-see pilgrimage destination.

Tokushima: ***Dance the Awa Dance

The Naruto Vortex Tide is one of the four largest vortex tides in the world, and there's no more exciting way to watch the tide than by taking a tide-watching boat right to the center of the vortex and feeling the ocean waves roll by. Ride an antique boat, board the uppermost deck, the sea breeze, the Great Naruto cable-stayed bridge as a backdrop, standing between the sea and the sky, suspended in the air like a long string, articulated clouds caressing the wind, meandering and stretching, exceptionally majestic.

Other attractions: Dabu Guan and Xiaobu Guan view is very spectacular.