Page 247 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

A boat gliding on one of Ritsurin Garden’s beautiful ponds, Takamatsu

SHIKOKU

Late Paleolithic sites and kofun (burial mounds)
dating from the 3rd century AD are evidence of
early human activity on Shikoku. The Dogo Onsen
Honkan in Matsuyama is referred to in the Kojiki,
Japan’s oldest chronicle, written in 712. Despite
such ancient sites, however, Shikoku has mainly
been on the margin of Japanese history. The island’s
most famous figure is Kukai, who was born into
a poor aristrocratic family in 774. This Buddhist
priest, who has been called the Father of Japanese
Culture, visited 88 of the island’s temples in a
pilgrimage that has been imitated by others for
more than a thousand years.
In 1183, as chronicled in the Tale of the Heike,
the war between the Taira and Minamoto clans for
dominance of Japan spilled over into the Inland
Sea and Shikoku. Some of the defeated Taira went
into hiding in a gorge in central Shikoku, where
many of their descendants still live.
Farmland and mountains continue to dominate
Shikoku’s landscape, although agriculture employs
only 3 percent of the island’s four million residents.
Assembly of cars and manufacture of electronic
goods, particularly in the ports along the Seto
Inland Sea, are the most important industries.
Other industries include fruit farming (mandarin
oranges in particular), seaweed and pearl
cultivation, and food and chemical processing.
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