Must-see Tourist Spots and Art Appreciation Trip
This is a four-day and three-night course that takes you around classic and must-see tourist spots in Shikoku and then allows you to appreciate art (e.g., the Setouchi Triennale)
START
10 minutes on foot from Tokushima Station
1
Awa Odori Kaikan (Awa Odori Museum)
90-minute visit
The world-famous Awa Dance can be viewed all year round at this dance hall. The first floor is home to an information desk and shop area for local products and tourist information. On the second floor is the Awa Dance library and an exhibition hall. The third floor is home to a museum, and on the fifth floor is the station for the ropeway to the top of Mt. Bizan.
https://www.awaodori-kaikan.jp/
https://www.awaodori-kaikan.jp/
10 minutes on foot
2
Tokushima Station
60-minute lunch around the station
*The images of the food are for illustrative purposes only
80 minutes by bus
3
Board a whirlpool sightseeing boat
The magnificent whirlpools in the Naruto Straits can be enjoyed from several vantages. One option is the observatory built below the Naruto Bridge, offering a variety of views through glass viewing panels from a height of 45m above the sea. For an up-close and personal view of the whirlpools, why not try taking a ride on one of the regular sightseeing boat trips available?
4
Naruto Accommodation
*The images of the accommodation facilities are for illustrative purposes only
15 minutes by car from Naruto Station
5
Otsuka Museum of Art
180-minute visit and lunch
Home to the largest permanent exhibition space in Japan, this museum houses vivid, full-size reproductions of masterworks of Western art on large ceramic boards. The museum collection of more than 1000 works was selected from 190 museums in 25 countries to show the development of Western art from antiquity through to modern times.
6
Uzu-no-Michi Walkway
45-minute visit
The magnificent whirlpools in the Naruto Straits can be enjoyed from several vantages. One option is the observatory built below the Naruto Bridge, offering a variety of views through glass viewing panels from a height of 45m above the sea. For an up-close and personal view of the whirlpools, why not try taking a ride on one of the regular sightseeing boat trips available?
70 minutes by car
7
Ritsurin Garden
120-minute visit
Ritsurin Garden is a daimyo (feudal lord) garden, which was completed in 1745 over a period of one hundred years. Designated as a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, this spacious garden features 6 ponds and 13 landscaped hills. While strolling you can enjoy the changing landscape, therefore it is said that the variety of scenery has the attraction of "ippo ikkei" or a change in scenery with every step. In the garden there are buildings, such as Kikugetsu-tei teahouse, where you can have matcha (powdered green tea) while viewing the picturesque landscape, and the Sanuki Mingeikan (Folk Craft Museum), where Sanuki folk crafts are exhibited. You can also enjoy a ride on a Japanese boat, the “Senshu maru”.
8
Takamatsu Accommodation
*The images of the accommodation facilities are for illustrative purposes only
9
Setouchi Triennale
The Seto Inland Sea has been a vital transportation route since ancient times. Ships plying its waters stopped at different islands where their crew passed along the latest cultural and lifestyle trends. The distinctive local cultures that emerged through such interactions can still be found today. The islands’ unique identities, however, are being eroded by the shrinking and aging of their populations and the diminishing vitality of the region, which have accompanied the acceleration of globalization, optimization and homogenization. Through the Setouchi Triennale, we aim to revitalize island communities that once thrived within the spectacular setting of the Seto Inland Sea, a nexus of trade and cultural exchange, and transform this region into a Sea of Hope for the world.
Setouchi Triennale Executive Committee President: Keizo Hamada (Governor of Kagawa Prefecture)
General Producer: Soichiro Fukutake (Chairman of the Board, Fukutake Foundation)
General Director: Fram Kitagawa (Art Director)
Setouchi Triennale Executive Committee President: Keizo Hamada (Governor of Kagawa Prefecture)
General Producer: Soichiro Fukutake (Chairman of the Board, Fukutake Foundation)
General Director: Fram Kitagawa (Art Director)
10
Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaii Setouchi Art Museum
A seaside museum where the Seto Ohashi Bridge and the blue waves stretch out before your eyes.
Located in a perfect place facing the Seto Ohashi Bridge, the museum has a wonderful collection of 350 works, including woodblock paintings by one of the great masters of Japanese painting, Kaii Higashiyama. On the lower floor, beautiful scenery of the Seto Ohashi Bridge and the blue sea stretches out before your eyes. The building was designed by architect Yoshio Taniguchi.
11
Sakaide Accommodation
*The images of the accommodation facilities are for illustrative purposes only
130 minutes by train from Sakaide Station
12
Matsuyama Station
60-minute lunch around the station
*The images of the food are for illustrative purposes only
13
Matsuyama Castle
90-minute visit
Matsuyama Castle, in the style of the Momoyama period, is one of Japan’s few original surviving castles. Its 21 buildings are listed as Important Cultural Properties, and the castle is regarded as one of the three best ‘Renritsu-shiki Hirayama-jiro’ (Renritsu-shiki: an architectural style where the top castle tower is in the centre with smaller towers on either side; Hirayama-jiro: a castle built on a hill on a plain). The towers are all connected to defend the main castle building. The castle is a well-known symbol of Matsuyama and is written about in the prologue of the novel, “Clouds Above the Hill” by Ryotaro Shiba. It has been and will be guarding the city of Matsuyama for centuries!
15 minutes by car
14
Kumanosan Ishite-ji Temple
60-minute visit
This temple is No. 51 of the 88 temples of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. Many tourists come to visit the famously mysterious temple in addition to those on the pilgrimage. The temple is home to a number of famous buildings such as the Niomon Gate, a designated national treasure, and the temple’s main hall, bell tower and pagoda, designated Important Cultural Properties. Other popular sights include a goddess for safe childbirth, a treasure house, the Mantra cave, and an inner temple. There is something for everyone at Ishite-ji and something new to discover with each visit.
GOAL