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Takamatsu is the capital of Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, a port city on the Seto Inland Sea known for Ritsurin Garden, one of the largest strolling gardens in Japan, for its castle with seawater moats and for Sanuki udon, the chewy, square-edged wheat noodles that take their name from Sanuki, the old name of Kagawa.
The city grew around Takamatsu Castle, seat of the Takamatsu Domain from 1588 to 1869. Long before, in 1185, the bay below the Yashima plateau to the east saw the Battle of Yashima in the Genpei War, a story still told at the temple on the summit.
Visitors stroll Ritsurin Garden, walk the castle park and see the glass Setoshirube lighthouse at the port. On Yashima they find the pilgrim temple and Shikoku Mura, and by ferry they reach the islands of Megijima, Ogijima and Naoshima, while the shrine of Kotohira-gū is a short trip away.
Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu is one of the largest strolling gardens in Japan, completed in 1745 as a garden and villa for the local feudal lords and opened to the public in 1875. Below Mount Shiun lie ponds, small hills, teahouses and shaped pines, and it is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty.
Takamatsu Castle, also called Tamamo Castle, was the seat of the Takamatsu Domain from 1588 to 1869 and is one of only three castles in Japan with moats of seawater. Now Tamamo Park, it keeps the Tsukimi Yagura turret of 1676 and its sea gate, both Important Cultural Properties.
The Kagawa Prefectural Government Office in Takamatsu was designed by Kenzo Tange, with work beginning in 1956. Its concrete facade recreates the slender beams of traditional Japanese wooden buildings, and it is seen as an early masterpiece of Tange and one of the key buildings of 1950s Japan.
Setoshirube, the red lighthouse of Takamatsu Port, stands at the tip of the Tamamo breakwater about 540 metres out from Sunport Takamatsu. First lit in November 1998, it is the world's first lighthouse built entirely of glass, from 1,600 glass blocks, and at night the whole tower glows red.
Yashima is a flat-topped lava plateau 292 metres high on the east side of Takamatsu, known for its views over the city and the Seto Inland Sea. In 1185 the bay below was the scene of the Battle of Yashima in the Genpei War, where Nasu no Yoichi is said to have shot down a fan from an enemy ship.
Yashima-ji is a Shingon temple on top of the Yashima plateau in Takamatsu and the 84th temple of the Shikoku 88-temple pilgrimage. It is said to have been founded by the Chinese monk Ganjin in 754, and its main hall of 1618, a seated Senju Kannon and a bell of 1223 are Important Cultural Properties.
Shikoku Mura is an open-air museum of old buildings at the foot of Yashima in Takamatsu, opened in 1976 on a site of about five hectares. It gathers more than twenty old houses and workshops from across Shikoku, from the Edo period to the Taishō period, and almost all are listed cultural properties.
The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Takamatsu opened in 1999 in Mure, where the sculptor Isamu Noguchi had his studio, to fulfil his wishes. The garden museum shows his stone sculptures in the place where he worked, and visits are made by reservation in small groups at set times.
Megijima is a small island in the Seto Inland Sea about 4 km north of Takamatsu, with about 200 residents, a summer beach and more than 2,000 cherry trees. It is linked to Onigashima, the ogre island of the Momotarō folk tale, and its hilltop caves and viewpoint are popular sights.
Ogijima is a small, hilly island next to Megijima in the Seto Inland Sea, north of Takamatsu, about 2 km long with one village. A notable granite lighthouse stands at its northern end, and the old lighthouse annex is now a museum. It inspired the island of the novel Battle Royale.
Naoshima is an island of the Seto Inland Sea in Kagawa, reached by ferry from Takamatsu and known around the world for contemporary art. Its museums include the Chichu Art Museum by Tadao Ando, with works by James Turrell, Walter De Maria and Claude Monet, and the Benesse House museum and hotel.
Kotohira-gū, known as Konpira-san, is a Shinto shrine on Mount Zōzu in the town of Kotohira in Kagawa, revered as a guardian of sailors and fishermen. Its famous stairway climbs 785 steps to the main shrine and 1,368 steps to the inner shrine, and it heads about 600 Kotohira shrines in Japan.
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