Japan: Shikoku, Naoshima and the Pilgrim Temples

1. Jour 1 : Okayama to Naoshima

   Okayama Station to Uno port by van, then the ferry to Naoshima

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Naoshima
   Détail du jour 1

   Meet your See Sight Tours guide at Okayama Station around midday; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Okayama is about 45 minutes from Shin-Osaka by Shinkansen and a little over three hours from Tokyo, so you can travel in the same morning. Our van takes the group and the suitcases about 35 km to Uno port, under an hour, and a 20-minute ferry crosses to Miyanoura on Naoshima. The island lived from fishing and a copper refinery until the Benesse foundation began building art sites here in the late 1980s, many designed by the architect Tadao Ando. After check-in we walk Honmura, the old village, and its Art House Project: empty houses, a shrine and a former dentist's office turned into installations, including Minamidera, where a James Turrell work is entered in darkness. In the late afternoon the shuttle takes us to the Lee Ufan Museum, a half-buried Ando building of stone and iron works, about 40 minutes, then on to Benesse House Museum above the sea and Yayoi Kusama's yellow Pumpkin on its pier, best in low evening light. Welcome dinner together on the island.

   Compris

   • Meeting at Okayama Station and van to Uno port
   • Ferry from Uno to Naoshima
   • The Art House Project in Honmura, including Minamidera
   • Lee Ufan Museum
   • Benesse House Museum and the outdoor works along the shore, including Kusama's Pumpkin
   • Welcome dinner on Naoshima

   Temps libre : Free before the midday meeting

   Activité : The Art House Project and the Lee Ufan Museum close on Mondays, so departures never start on one.

   

2. Jour 2 : Chichu, then Teshima

   Naoshima to Teshima by ferry and back

   • En traversier
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Naoshima
   Détail du jour 2

   Today is built around two timed tickets that we book for you. We are at the Chichu Art Museum for the first entry of the morning, before the day visitors from the mainland arrive. Ando set most of it into the hillside, and its few rooms are lit by daylight: Claude Monet's late Water Lilies, a granite sphere and gilded columns by Walter De Maria, and three works by James Turrell. Teshima sailings are few, so we take the late-morning ferry from Miyanoura to Ieura, about 20 minutes, with its time confirmed at booking. Teshima is greener, an island of rice terraces and springs. Lunch is at an island cafe cooking with Teshima produce. Then the island bus climbs to the terraces for Teshima Art Museum, by the architect Ryue Nishizawa and the artist Rei Naito: one low concrete shell with two open ovals in its roof, where beads of water rise from the floor and slowly run together. It is a place for silence. On the shore at Karato, Christian Boltanski's Les Archives du Coeur keeps recordings of heartbeats from around the world. The late ferry takes us back to Naoshima for dinner.

   Compris

   • Chichu Art Museum, first timed entry
   • Ferries between Naoshima and Teshima
   • Lunch on Teshima
   • Teshima Art Museum, timed entry
   • Les Archives du Coeur
   • Island bus and shuttle fares
   • Dinner on Naoshima

   Activités en option

   • Record your own heartbeat at Les Archives du Coeur (paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Stay on the island buses between every site on both islands.

   Option plus active : Ride an e-bike on Teshima from Ieura over the hill to the art museum, about 5 km with a long climb.

   Temps libre : Early evening free on Naoshima before dinner

   Activité : Chichu closes on Mondays and Teshima Art Museum on Tuesdays from March to November, so departure dates are set around both.

   

3. Jour 3 : Ferry to Takamatsu and Ritsurin Garden

   Naoshima to Takamatsu by ferry, then Ritsurin Garden

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Takamatsu
   Détail du jour 3

   The morning is yours on Naoshima. Rent a bike for the coast road, swim off the beach below Benesse House in summer, or go back to a work you want to see again; your guide can help with tickets. Late in the morning we take the ferry from Miyanoura to Takamatsu on Shikoku, about 50 minutes across the Inland Sea, threading between small islands. Takamatsu is the capital of Kagawa, Japan's smallest prefecture and the home of Sanuki udon, so lunch is a bowl of thick, chewy wheat noodles at a local udon shop near the port. In the afternoon our van takes us to Ritsurin Garden, laid out over more than a century by the lords of Takamatsu and set against the wooded slope of Mount Shiun. Its paths wind past ponds, arched bridges and pines pruned for centuries, and it is designated a Special Place of Scenic Beauty. We stop for matcha and a sweet in the Kikugetsu-tei teahouse, looking over the South Pond. The evening is free in Takamatsu, by the port or in the covered shopping arcades.

   Compris

   • Ferry from Naoshima to Takamatsu
   • Sanuki udon lunch in Takamatsu
   • Ritsurin Garden with your guide
   • Matcha and a sweet in the Kikugetsu-tei teahouse

   Activités en option

   • Bike hire on Naoshima (paid locally)
   • Wasen boat on Ritsurin's South Pond (paid locally)

   Temps libre : Morning free on Naoshima; evening free in Takamatsu

   

4. Jour 4 : Kotohira-gu and the Oboke gorge

   Takamatsu to Kotohira, then up the Yoshino River to Oboke and the Iya Valley

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Iya Valley
   Détail du jour 4

   Our van and driver now stay with the group for the rest of Shikoku, carrying the suitcases. About 45 minutes from Takamatsu is Kotohira-gu, known as Konpira-san, the shrine of sailors and seafarers. A shop-lined approach turns into a long stone stairway: 785 steps to the main shrine, which looks out over the Sanuki plain, and more than 1,300 to the inner shrine for those who keep going. We go up in the cool of the morning, at your own pace. From Kotohira the road follows the Yoshino River into the mountains to Oboke, where the river has cut a gorge through pale grey rock. Lunch is near the gorge, then a 30-minute boat ride between the cliffs, the easiest way to see them. The last stretch climbs into the Iya Valley, one of Japan's three most remote valleys, where houses cling to slopes above the river and the Heike clan is said to have hidden after their defeat in 1185. About two and a half hours of driving today, in three short legs. Dinner and an onsen bath at the hotel.

   Compris

   • Kotohira-gu with your guide, up to the main shrine
   • Lunch near Oboke
   • Oboke gorge boat ride
   • Dinner at the hotel in the Iya Valley

   Option plus facile : Stop at any landing on the Kotohira-gu stairway; the shops and the lower shrines are at the bottom.

   Option plus active : Climb on from the main shrine to the inner shrine at Kotohira-gu, about 1,368 steps in all and an extra hour.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the hotel for the onsen

   Activité : The Oboke boat does not run after heavy rain; when it is cancelled we walk a riverside viewpoint instead.

   

5. Jour 5 : The vine bridges of Iya

   Around the Iya Valley: Kazurabashi, Ochiai and Oku-Iya

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Iya Valley
   Détail du jour 5

   We are at Kazurabashi in the morning, ahead of the coach groups. The bridge is woven from hardy kiwi vines, about 45 m long and some 14 m above the river, and it is rebuilt every few years; the wooden slats are wide apart, so you look straight down to the water as you cross. A short path leads on to Biwa Falls. Then we drive deeper into the valley to the Ochiai viewpoint, where a hamlet of farmhouses and terraced fields climbs a steep slope; the village is protected as a traditional townscape. Lunch is Iya soba, coarse buckwheat noodles, at a local restaurant. The afternoon is at Oku-Iya, the far end of the valley, where a pair of vine bridges, the husband and wife bridges, hang side by side, with a hand-pulled cable cart, the yaen, across the river. Here is the easy gorge walk: about an hour on a path along the river and through the forest. We are back at the hotel by mid-afternoon. Dinner at the hotel.

   Compris

   • Iya Kazurabashi vine bridge and Biwa Falls
   • Ochiai village viewpoint
   • Iya soba lunch
   • Oku-Iya double vine bridges and the yaen cable cart
   • Riverside walk at Oku-Iya with your guide
   • Dinner at the hotel

   Option plus facile : Watch the bridges from the bank instead of crossing, and take the shorter loop by the river at Oku-Iya.

   Option plus active : Walk down from the Ochiai viewpoint through the hamlet's lanes, about 40 minutes on steep paths, and meet the van below.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free for the onsen

   Activité : The Oku-Iya bridges open about April to November and close in winter and in bad weather, with exact dates confirmed at booking; Kazurabashi is open all year.

   

6. Jour 6 : Kochi: Hirome Market and the castle

   Iya Valley to Kochi by van

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Kochi
   Détail du jour 6

   After a slow breakfast we leave the valley and drive south through the mountains to Kochi, about two hours on the valley road and the expressway, arriving in time for lunch. Kochi sits on the Pacific side of Shikoku and is known for its food and its independent streak: it was the home of Sakamoto Ryoma, one of the samurai who helped end the shogunate in the 1860s. Lunch is at Hirome Market, a covered hall of food stalls and shared tables, where the dish to try is katsuo no tataki, bonito seared over burning straw so the outside is smoky and the inside raw. In the afternoon we walk up to Kochi Castle, one of only twelve castles in Japan whose original keep survives, and the only one where the Honmaru Palace beside the keep still stands too. From the top floor you see the city and the mountains we came through. The evening is free. If today is a Sunday, the street market on Otesuji, held on Sundays for centuries, runs below the castle until mid-afternoon.

   Compris

   • Lunch at Hirome Market, with katsuo no tataki
   • Kochi Castle with your guide

   Temps libre : Evening free in Kochi

   Activité : The castle keep has steep wooden stairs inside; you can wait in the grounds below.

   

7. Jour 7 : Matsuyama Castle and an evening at Dogo Onsen

   Kochi to Matsuyama by van

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Matsuyama
   Détail du jour 7

   A mid-morning start gives you time for a last walk in Kochi before we drive west across Shikoku to Matsuyama, about two hours on the expressways through the mountains. Matsuyama is the largest city on the island and lunch here is on your own, near the castle. Matsuyama Castle stands on Katsuyama hill in the middle of the city; a ropeway or a chairlift saves the climb, and its keep is another of Japan's twelve original keeps. From the top you look out over the city to the Inland Sea, the water we crossed earlier in the week. Late in the afternoon we check in at our hotel in Dogo, the hot-spring quarter at the edge of the city. In the evening, after a short briefing from your guide on bath etiquette, we go to Dogo Onsen Honkan, the wooden bathhouse completed in 1894, its roof topped by a small drum tower. Bathe, then stroll back through the arcade in the yukata the hotel provides. The rest of the evening is free.

   Compris

   • Matsuyama Castle with your guide, with the ropeway or chairlift
   • Onsen etiquette briefing
   • A bath at Dogo Onsen Honkan

   Activités en option

   • Asuka-no-Yu, the newer bathhouse in Dogo (paid locally)

   Option plus active : Walk up Katsuyama to the castle instead of riding, about 20 minutes on a steep path.

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; evening free in Dogo

   

8. Jour 8 : Two pilgrim temples

   Dogo to Ishiteji on foot, then by van to Joruriji

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Matsuyama
   Détail du jour 8

   Shikoku's pilgrimage links 88 temples on a loop of about 1,200 km around the island, all tied to the monk Kukai, known as Kobo Daishi, who was born on Shikoku in the 8th century. Pilgrims in white still walk it. At about 8 am we walk 20 minutes from Dogo to Ishiteji, temple 51, before the day visitors. Its Nio-mon gate dates from the 14th century and is a National Treasure. Your guide shows what pilgrims do: bow at the gate, rinse hands and mouth at the water basin, ring the bell, light a candle and incense, leave a name slip, and recite or listen to the Heart Sutra at the main hall and again at the Daishi hall. At the temple office you can have a book stamped and inscribed in calligraphy. Then our van takes us south of the city to Joruriji, temple 46, a small temple among fields and old trees, where we repeat the steps more quietly, on our own. We are back in Dogo by lunchtime. The afternoon is free, and the farewell dinner is in Matsuyama.

   Compris

   • Ishiteji (temple 51) with your guide, with the pilgrim's etiquette at each step
   • Joruriji (temple 46)
   • Farewell dinner in Matsuyama

   Activités en option

   • A nokyocho stamp book and temple stamps (paid at each temple office)

   Option plus facile : Ride the van to Ishiteji instead of walking from Dogo.

   Option plus active : Walk on from Joruriji along the pilgrim path to Yasakaji (temple 47), about 1 km, and meet the van there.

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; afternoon free in Matsuyama

   Activité : Temples are places of worship: shoulders covered, hats off in the halls, and no photos where signs ask.

   

9. Jour 9 : Across the Inland Sea to Hiroshima

   Matsuyama to Hiroshima by high-speed ferry

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   After breakfast the van takes us to Matsuyama Kanko port, and a high-speed ferry crosses the Inland Sea to Hiroshima's Ujina port in about 1 hour 15 minutes, past the islands of the Geiyo archipelago. A short ride brings us to the Peace Memorial Park, where your guide walks you past the Atomic Bomb Dome, listed by UNESCO in 1996, the Children's Peace Monument hung with paper cranes, and the cenotaph that frames the dome. We visit the Peace Memorial Museum together, about an hour and a half; its account of 6 August 1945 is hard to look at, and you can leave at any point and wait in the park. The trip ends at Hiroshima Station at about 1 pm, a time we confirm against the ferry timetable. From there the Shinkansen reaches Osaka in about an hour and a half and Tokyo in about four hours; Hiroshima Airport is about an hour away by bus. Book flights from Kansai or Hiroshima for the evening or the next day.

   Compris

   • High-speed ferry from Matsuyama to Hiroshima
   • Peace Memorial Park with your guide
   • Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
   • Drop-off at Hiroshima Station

   Temps libre : Free from about 1 pm (confirmed with the ferry timetable)

   

Faune et météo : Spring and autumn are mild and mostly dry: cherry blossom reaches Ritsurin and Matsuyama Castle about late March to early April, and the Iya Valley turns red and gold from about late October to mid-November. The rainy season runs from about early June to mid-July and summer is hot and humid. Typhoons from August to October can cancel Inland Sea ferries and close the narrow Iya roads; if that happens we reroute by bridge and road. The Iya Valley is cold in winter.

• Naoshima2 nuits
• Takamatsu1 nuit
• Iya Valley2 nuits
• Kochi1 nuit
• Matsuyama2 nuits