Kochi

Rest day in Kochi

We had a leisurely start which meant time for two coffees before meeting Julie and Andrew at 9:30.  First stop was Kochi castle which was clearly visible above the town.  Whilst Julie and Andrew were getting some cash, Simon and I noticed the nearby shrine with its resident chickens and waved to the young children out with their day care teachers calmly watching the world from their little trolley. 

The castle was fascinating - as one of only three castles in Japan to have both their main keep and main gate still intact, and the only castle still in possession of its original Edo period architecture in the main citadel.  We were impressed with the stone walls which, according to the brochure, “may appear haphazardly built , but they are actually piled up in a very sturdy fashion”. There was lots of history written in English as well as miniatures of the castle which brought the history to life and showed how the castle was used as both a residence and for military purposes  There were amazing views from the top of the castle with the banisters on the walkway painted in 32 coats of black lacquer.  Also of interest were the fish carvings that had apparently fallen off a few times.

We then made our way to Harimaya Bridge in the Harimayabashi district which is famous due to a 19th century legend that a monk fell in love with a woman which was forbidden and he was found out when buying a comb for her hair and they had to flee the city. We wandered through a wooden covered market street after attempting to take some photos of the trams and spotted a possible ramen lunch spot based on the volume of people eating and queuing there. 

I had read about an interesting shop, called Futon Fabric and Kitchen which was close by and Julie and I enjoyed browsing the various items.  I really was not interested in purchasing anything to carry for the next three weeks and we left Julie browsing whilst we returned to the Tosanoya Ramen shop.  By this time there was quite a queue but we were advised it was only about a 10 minute wait, so we purchased our ramen tickets through the machine and waited our turn.  Fortunately three people left together and we were able to take their seats at the counter and within minutes had received our ramen.  The noodles were thicker and the broth richer and saltier than yesterday’s so it was quite a different taste experience - though equally as good.

We returned to the hotel and picked up our bikes to visit Chikurinji temple, number 31  on the Shikoku 88 sacred temple pilgrim trail.  It was only 5.6kms but the last 2kms was uphill with gradients reaching 10%.  We stopped first at the observatory and decided the climb was worth it for the views over Kochi city nestled in amongst the mountains and surrounded by waterways. 

It was only a short distance to the temple complex which was founded in the 8th century and set in a garden of maple trees.  We admired the Fortune Cat, so called after the Kitamura family raised a cat with the name Kitu appearing on its stomach and the family was blessed with prosperity.  Nearby the thousand Jizō statues are enshrined so you can mourn your ancestors in past lives, pray for benefits in this life, or pray for rebirth in a future life.  Behind these were a five-storied pagoda made of cypress which was rebuilt in 1980 after it’s three storied predecessor collapsed due to a typhoon in 1899.

The Hondo, or main hall, of the Buddhist temple was built in the mid 17th century and also destroyed in the typhoon, but rebuilt more quickly.  There were a few smaller shrines around the garden which was very pleasant to walk through. 

Our final stop was the Makino Botanical Garden where we caused the ticket seller to become most upset when we rode up on our bikes to find the ticket booth.  She directed us up the hill to the main car park, where the traffic controller pointed to a location surrounded by green cones for us to park our bikes.  The garden honours the late Kochi-born botanist, Dr Tomitaro Makino who was the father of Japanese botany.  The best part was the large Greenhouse, a big structure filled with a range of tropical plants and a few interesting sculptures.  The orchids were particularly beautiful.  We wandered the rest of the garden and enjoyed the views over Kochi.

It was a much quicker trip back to the hotel, despite the peak hour traffic and we adjourned for a quick beer across the road from the hotel.  A couple of hours later we met up again and detoured via the Chicken shrine to see the castle lit up at night before returning for dinner at Hirome market. This time we tried the Yuzu beer which was served on ice and really refreshing and delicious.  Andrew and Julie had the bonito we had enjoyed the night before whilst Simon and I tried the river prawns that you eat whole - though we couldn’t quite manage to eat their heads, as well as some sweet potato fries, Korean pancake and a tasty chicken stir fry dish.  Julie bought some sweet looking jellies that looked like Turkish delight but were not so sweet or tasty.  We picked up some ice creams at the convenience store on our way back to wrap up our dinner.  

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