Page 252 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Japan

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2 are Awaji, the largest island, PICTURE PERFECT
Setoda, Omi, and Shodo, a
Seto Inland Sea beautiful island that, with For Shore
瀬戸内海 its olive and orange groves, Head to Chichibuga
seems to belong more to
Beach, 12 miles (20 km)
EXPERIENCE Shikoku 253-1212 the Orient. But our favorite an Instagram-ready
! C5 n Setonaikai-kisen
west of Kotohira, to get
the Mediterranean than
(Inland Sea cruises); (082)
post. Stand on the sand
island is Naoshima, which
serves as a haven for ground-
The Seto Inland Sea, Japan’s
at sunset, strike a pose,
and get someone to
most beautiful body of water,
breaking art (p250).
capture your silhouette
is not landlocked, as its name
suggests, but seems almost so
like stretch of water.
with its serene waters and over
3,000 pine-studded islands. 3 reflected in the mirror-
Donald Richie, in his classic Kotohira
travelogue The Inland Sea 琴平 available) takes visitors up
(1971), sets the scene of a boat the rugged mountainside
journey westward through the ! C5 ⌂ Kagawa Prefecture to the shrine, set in beautiful
£ JR Kotohira & Kotoden-
narrow defiles of water: “On Kotohira Stns ∑ my- grounds. Within the complex,
the left are first the sharp and kagawa.jp/en/art/art01 the Asahi Shrine is built of
Chinese-looking moun tains zelkova, a rock-hard wood
of the island of Shikoku, so Kotohira is the home of the that forms an excellent
different that it appears famous shrine complex medium for carved relief
another land, and then the Kotohira-gu, also affec- work. The nearby Omote
flat coasts of Kyushu. This tionately known as Konpira- Shoin and Oku Shoin have
shallow sea is a valley among san, the spiritual guard ian celebrated screen paintings
these mountainous islands.” of seafarers. The target of by Maruyama Okyo. The first
You can cycle along a path pilgrimages for cen turies, presents burly tigers bristling
that stretches from Onomichi the shrine now attracts four with Zen energy, the second
to Imabari. Bridges, local mil lion visitors per year and is includes a waterfall flowing
ferries, and cruise boats believed to bestow good luck across a corner of the room.
provide access to the 750 upon fishermen and sailors. The oldest Kabuki theater
or so inhabited islands. The A 785-stair climb (or ride in Japan, the Kanamaru-za,
remote fishing villages on in one of the palanquins can also be found in the town.
these islands, with their salt-
weathered wooden houses
and black ceramic-tiled roofs,
seem to hail from a different
era. Among the most visited

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