An Afternoon at Ritsurin-koen

The Ritsurin Gardens at Takamatsu have shot back to number one on my list of best japanese gardens. I first came here last autumn and fell in love with the place and athough some other gardens on this trip have been fantastic and briefly taken the top spot (Adechi comes to mind), Ritsurin has returned to number one for me. Spread over a wide area at the foot of Mt. Shiun the gardens contain three lakes and many bridges, islands and groves of remarkable trees. Immaculate in its presentation and magical in atmosphere I could easily spend a whole day here although this time its just 4 hours in the afternoon :-)

Takamatsu is a lovely small city on the north east coast of Shikoku, the smallest and least visited of Japans four main islands. Off the beaten track I did not see a single westerner in my three days here and there were very few tourists at most places I visited, mainly Japanese.

The weather has been perfet today, rained while I was travelling from Osaka by Shinkansen and then the Marine Liner from Okayama; then the sun came out in the afternoon and made the Ritsurin gardens vibrant, green and glowing.

last time in takamatsu I visited Kotahira and the Konpira shrine with its 1400 steps up the mountainside. This time I will visit some lesser known places in Kagawa, far off the beaten track :-)Read more