Bridge over the River Shimanto
Anyone who has spent time in Japan will soon become aware of the importance of the four seasons in Japanese culture. In much of the country there is a clear and obvious distinction between 春, 夏, 秋 and 冬, and in fact many Japanese genuinely believe theirs is the only place on this planet to have four distinct seasons! But to the well-established quartet I would venture to argue there are two more - the typhoon season running between late summer and early autumn, and the "plum rains" 梅雨 that mark the ending of spring before the onset of the hot, humid summer.
Now, I would also maintain that it can and does rain year-round in most of Japan regardless of the season, but there is a distinct month-long period when precipitation is more likely to occur. And while it depends on where you are (the rain front moves from south to north), for me the rainy season unofficially started on the sixteenth day of my trip to Japan. Despite the rain coming down, after checking out of the Richmond Hotel リッチモンドホテル I drove up to the Godaisan Observatory 五台山展望台 to try to enjoy something of the view of Kōchi 高知 below from the temporary viewing spot:
The main reason for driving up to Godaisan was not to try to make out Kochi in the mist and rain, but to visit Temple 31 on the
Shikoku pilgrimage,
Chikurin-ji Temple 竹林寺. There was a large tour group of wet Westerners unprepared for the rain showing up at the same time I arrived, but I would not see any other obvious foreigners for the rest of this day:
The temple's history dates back to 724, making it one of the oldest temples in Kōchi Prefecture 高知県. The five-storied, 31 meter/102-foot high pagoda 五重塔 isn't quite so old, having been rebuilt in 1980, but claims to hold a bone of the Buddha from
Bodh Gaya in India. There's no way to confirm this, however, as the tower is closed to the public:
A separate ticket gives you entry into the small Treasure Hall, which has an impressive collection of Buddhist sculptures from the
Heian 平安時代 and
Kamakura 鎌倉時代 periods (photography not permitted); and the Kamakura-period temple garden 名勝庭園, which is overlooked by an
Edo period 江戸時代 villa erected in the 17th century in the
Shoin 書院 architectural style of the Muromachi era:
In one of the villa's drawing rooms was a portrait of
Kūkai 空海:
From Chikurin-ji it was back in the car, and time to head off to my next destination, roughly a 2½-hour drive from Kochi. The rain never let up as made my way past picturesque inlets and small fishing villages:
Not all the rural scenery was of the idyllic type:
Lunch that day was at a
Sukiya すき家:
The route I took (a longer one meant to avoid having to pay tolls) alternated between going inland (this view was taken next to a
roadside station 駅の道)...:
...and returning to the coast:
After 3 hours + driving (including stops) I reached my destination - a starting point for boating excursions along the Shimanto-gawa River 四万十川, the longest in Shikoku 四国 at 196 kilometers/122 miles and one of the few remaining free-flowing waterways in Japan (most of the country's rivers are dammed). I made it with a little time to spare before the departure of the next boat, but the small parking lot was crowded, with two giant tour buses taking up most of the space. With the rain still coming down, I reluctantly decided to give up on the idea of riding in a sightseeing cruise. Instead, I retraced my steps down the road to the Takase Chinkabashi 高瀬沈下橋, one of the Shimanto-gawa's 22 "
submersible bridges" (there are a further 26 crossing its tributaries), where I walked across to the other side. These bridges are designed to allow debris and water to flow unimpeded when the river level rises:
There was a sign warning against swimming but saying nothing about driving. I wouldn't have risked it, but as I was walking down to the bridge from where I'd parked, I was passed by a car that had done just that!:
I waited for a while but didn't see any boats coming downstream, so eventually I gave up and drove to my home for that night, the
Hotel Sun River Shimanto ホテルサンバリー四万十, a short walk from Nakamura Station 中村駅 on the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Nakamura Line 中村線. The room was on the smaller side, but parking was easy in the large lot out front (no more vertical high-rise parking towers):
The covered complex next to the hotel included one of the largest souvenir stores I'd ever seen in Japan, in addition to
Ichimonya いちもん屋, where I had
tonkatsu 豚カツ for dinner. High in volume, reasonably low in price:
Frankly speaking, Day 16 was probably the least interesting (excluding arrival and departure) of the entire Japanese jaunt, largely due to the rain putting a damper on things. But the weather would improve somewhat the following day, and so would the activities of which I partook.