Japan (Lonely Planet, 11th Edition) - Chris Rowthorn [520]
Getting Around
Matsuyama has an excellent tram service that costs a flat ¥150 for each trip (pay when you get off). A day pass costs ¥300. Trams to the terminus at Dōgo Onsen leave from outside both JR and Matsuyama-shi stations. The Ōkaidō stop outside the Mitsukoshi department store is a good central stopping point.
Lines 1 and 2 are loop lines, running clockwise and anticlockwise around Katsuyama (the castle mountain). Line 3 runs from Matsuyama-shi station to Dōgo Onsen, line 5 goes from JR Matsuyama station to Dōgo Onsen, and line 6 from Kiya-chō to Dōgo Onsen.
If you’re lucky with timing, you can ride the Botchan Ressha (), small trains that were imported from Germany in 1887. Named for Natsume Sōseki’s famous novel, they ran up and down Matsuyama’s streets for 67 years, and they’re back in occasional use.
Bike rental (per day ¥300; 9am-6pm Mon-Sat) is available at the large bicycle park to the right as you exit the JR station.
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AROUND MATSUYAMA
Ishizuchi-san
At 1982m, Ishizuchi-san is the highest peak in western Japan, and was traditionally considered to be a holy mountain. Ishizuchi attracts pilgrims and climbers alike, particularly during the July and August climbing season. During the winter (late December to late March), Ishizuchi also serves as a popular local ski slope.
To get to the Nishi-no-kawa cable-car station (on the northern side of the mountain), take the direct bus (¥990, 55 minutes, four daily) from Iyo-Saijo station.
You can climb up one way and down the other or make a complete circuit from Nishi-no-kawa to the summit, down to Tsuchi-goya and then back to Nishi-no-kawa. Allow all day and an early start for the circuit. For detailed information on hiking Ishizuchi-san, see Lonely Planet’s Hiking in Japan.
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SO THE STORY GOES…
Matsuyama’s Ishite-ji (Ishite Temple; Ishite means ‘stone hand’) is so named because of a legend relating to Kōbō Daishi. A rich man named Emon Saburō repeatedly refused to give alms when the great man came to beg at his door, and one day even used violence against the saint and sent him on his way. Shortly afterwards, the man’s sons began to die. Seven of them died before it occurred to Saburō that he had acted unwisely in treating the Daishi with so little respect. Repenting of what he had done and desperate for forgiveness, he set off on a long journey around Shikoku, searching desperately for the only man who could help, Kōbō Daishi.
Saburō completed several circuits of the pilgrimage before he managed to track down his man, and by the time he found him, Saburō was ready to breathe his last.
But before he died, he begged a favour of Kōbō Daishi and asked to be reborn as the lord of Iyo province (now Ehime prefecture), so that he might attain merit by serving the common people and atoning for the evil he had done in this life. Kōbō Daishi wrote Saburō’s name on a stone and thrust it into his hands. Saburō died with the stone in his hand. Several days later, a baby boy was born to the first wife of the lord of the domain, his hand clasped tight shut. A priest was called in and commanded to use the most powerful prayers in his arsenal to unlock the boy’s fist. When the boy finally did release his grip, his astonished parents found clasped between his fingers the stone inscribed with the dead man’s name.
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KAGAWA-KEN
Formerly known as Sanuki, Kagawa-ken is the smallest of Shikoku’s four regions, and the second smallest of the country’s 47 prefectures.
The region’s hospitable weather and welcoming people have always been a comfort to pilgrims as they come to the end of their journey. Today, it’s an important point of arrival, too, since the only rail link with Honshū is via the Seto-ōhashi bridge to Okayama. Highlights of the region include the celebrated shrine of Kompira-san at Kotohira, the beautiful garden of Ritsurin-kōen in