ALL THE COLOURS & FLAVOURS OF THE HANA HARU FESTIVAL IN TOKUSHIMA! We celebrated all the abundance and joys of spring today, along with most of Tokushima! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the Hana Haru Festival (i.e. Spring Flower Festival) of 2015! One of the reasons […]
VIEWS OVER TOKUSHIMA FROM EYEBROW MOUNTAIN Leaving Takamatsu behind, we caught the train to our next destination today: Tokushima. This is another of Shikoku’s urban centres and our base for the next couple of days. It’s a really cute little city, built along the Yoshino River, with Mt […]
TWO TEMPLES, 1,368 STEPS & A COUPLE OF VERY TIRED CREAM PUFFS Following yesterday’s successful outing to see Yashima-ji we decided to venture a little further afield and visit 2 more of Shikoku’s pilgrimage temples: Zentsu-ji and Konpira-ji. Both were impressive in their own way – Zentsu-ji for […]
TEMPLES OF THE SHIKOKU PILGRIMAGE One of things Shikoku is famous for is the Shikoku Henro (i.e. Shikoku Pilgrimage). This 1,200km loop takes pilgrims around the entire island, visiting each of 88 major temples dotted around the isle. We contemplated doing the Shikoku Pilgrimage this trip but opted […]
WELCOME TO SHIKOKU! The highlight of our day today was exploring Ritsurin-koen (i.e. Ritsurin Garden). This beautifully landscaped 17th century daimyo koen (i.e. strolling garden) is situated in the city of Takamatsu, our base for the next few days. Ritsurin-koen is one of the most famous historical gardens […]