Off the beaten track in Shikoku – from Matsuyama to Kochi via Uchiko

Today we set off deeper into the island of Shikoku. First stop was a small old town called Uchiko, many of whose buildings date from the Edo period (1603-1868). It was a laid-back sort of place, with a slow pace of life, which we enjoyed as we strolled around. We ended up spending much longer there than planned.

After a coffee for the road, we set off through Shikoku mountains and forests to our next destination, the port city of Kochi on Shikoku’s south coast. The road twisted and turned upwards, through dense forests – sometimes of pine, sometimes of bamboo.

It then followed the path of a pretty gorge, turning into a single lane road, in places barely wider than our small car. Driving was quite tricky, but Aki handled it well, as I navigated.

Fortunately, we were the only people on the road and never had to deal with a car coming the other way. We had chosen a very pretty, but also very slow route for which Google had calculated a hopelessly optimistic travel time. As a result, we arrived in Kochi after night had fallen. We parked our car in the tower recommended by the hotel. Being Japanese, Aki has seen these before but for me it was a complete surprise; She drove into one of the tower’s four entry bays, parked the car on a sort of platform at ground level, and we got out. I was wondering what would happen next and how this could possibly be a car park, when the platform rotated 90 degrees and rose up into the air, disappearing up the shaft of the building. It was a fully automated system where a computer places your car into one of the available spaces deep inside the block somewhere. The attendant told us the tower could hold 200 vehicles. He gave us a ticket and impressed on us the importance of not losing it!

We checked into our hotel – it was one of only two modern-style hotel rooms we had booked for the whole trip, and seemed to be used mostly by business travellers. Our room was small, but comfortable enough. After unpacking we set off straight for dinner. Like any port city in Japan, Kochi is known for its seafood and its speciality is seared raw tuna. We ordered some and got a huge plate for a price that back home would have got you one small tuna steak in a supermarket.

The next day we explored more of Koch. First stop, as always, was the castle, which I liked, even though it looked very similar to the others we had seen in Japan. The view from the top was particularly impressive, looking north, I could count no fewer than eight successive mountain ranges, one behind the other.

Back in Kochi town we stopped for brunch in the market, treating ourselves to fish, oysters and sea urchin – the latter being one of the few expensive forms of seafood here.

We checked out from our hotel and recovered our car, which appeared from the depths of the tower as if by magic – this time facing forward, towards the road, ready to be driven off. Our next destination was the Iya Valley, deep in the Shikoku mountains, but on the way we visited two attractions on the outskirts of Kochi. The first was the Makino Botanical Garden, named after a famous Japanese botanist. It seemed to be a spring and summer garden, with no flowers in autumn.

The Chikurinji temple next door made up for the slight disappointment of the gardens. It grounds radiated harmony and peace, and would have been a good place to sit and meditate, if we had had time. Shikoku is home to a famous circular pilgrimage that includes 88 temples dotted around the island and is 1,200 km long. Chikurinji is temple number 31 on this route, and we saw some pilgrims, dressed in white, praying at the shrine.

It was now time to head on into the mountains. The scenery became rugged and would have been very impressive, had it not been raining. We arrived at our destination – a basic ryokan – in the late afternoon and spent the time before dinner catching up on admin. This included anxiously checking tomorrow’s weather forecast……there would not be much to do on a rainy around here. Fingers crossed for tomorrow…..

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