Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [509]
There are five buses a day to Ryūga-dō from Tosa-Yamada station (¥440, 20 minutes). Tosa-Yamada station is 30 minutes from Kōchi by local train (¥350), or 15 minutes by tokkyū (¥600).
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KŌCHI
088 / pop 335,000
The prefectural capital is a pleasant city with excellent nightlife, and it has one of Japan’s few castles to have survived with most of its original buildings intact. The city played an important role during the Meiji Restoration, when a young samurai named Sakamoto Ryōma was instrumental in bringing down the feudal government. He’s the serious-looking young man in samurai garb whose picture you will see all over town.
Orientation
Harimayabashi-dōri is the main road that leads straight ahead from the station. Trams travel along this road, passing the Obiyamachi arcade before intersecting with the main east–west road tram line at Harimaya-bashi.
Information
Coin lockers and a left-luggage office are in the station, and international ATMs are available at the post office next to the station.
JTB (823-2321; 1-21 Sakai-chō; 10am-6pm, closed Wed) Close to the Harimayabashi intersection.
Kōchi International Association (875-0022; www.kochi-kia.or.jp; 4-1-37 Honmachi; 8.30am-5.30pm, closed Sun) On the south side of the castle, this office is worth visiting for local information and friendly advice. It offers free internet access, a library and English newspapers.
Tourist information office (826-3337; 9am-5pm) This helpful office is inside JR Kōchi station.
Sights & Activities
KŌCHI-JŌ
Unlike many of Japan’s modern concrete reconstructions, Kōchi-jō (Kōchi Castle; 824-5701; 1-2-1 Marunouchi; admission ¥400; 9am-5pm) is the real thing – one of just a dozen in Japan to have survived with its original tenshu-kaku (keep) intact. The castle was originally built during the first decade of the 17th century by Yamanouchi Katsutoyo, who was appointed daimyō by Tokugawa Ieyasu after he fought on the victorious Tokugawa side in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. A major fire destroyed much of the original structure in 1727, and the castle was largely rebuilt between 1748 and 1753.
The graceful appearance of the castle’s design perhaps reflects the fact that, in its present form, it was the product of an age of peace – the castle never came under attack, and for the remainder of the Tokugawa period it was more like a stately home than a military fortress. Inside the castle are exhibits on the history and development of the castle and the city that grew up around it – all in Japanese only. Many of the modern streets in this part of town follow their historic routes, and from the top of the castle it’s still easy to make out the traditional layout of a Tokugawa-period castle town.
GODAISAN
Several kilometres east of the town centre is the mountain of Godaisan, where there are excellent views out over the city from a look-out point () in a park. A short walk away at the top of the hill is Chikurin-ji (; 882-3085), Temple 31 of the 88, where the main hall was built by the second Tosa daimyō, Yamanouchi Tadayoshi, in 1644. The extensive grounds also feature a five-storey pagoda and thousands of statues of the Bodhisattva Jizō, guardian deity of children and travellers. The Treasure House (; admission ¥400; 9am-5pm) hosts an impressive collection of Buddhist sculpture from the Heian and Kamakura periods; the same ticket gets you into the lovely late-Kamakura-period garden opposite. Descending the steps by the Treasure Hall brings you to the entrance gates of the Kōchi Prefectural Makino Botanical Gardens (; 882-2601; admission ¥500; 9am-5pm), a beautiful network of gardens, greenhouses and parkland featuring more than 3000 different plant species. The gardens are named for Makino Tomitarō, the ‘Father of Japanese Botany’. Tomitarō was born in Kōchi-ken and compiled the