Of the four full days we would be in Takamatsu, the first was forecast to be sunny, with the remainder a mixed bag. Hence, we got up in good time to set off on the 20 minute walk to Ritsurin Garden, another one of Japan's top 10 gardens.
On the way we looked in on a pachinko parlour. This is a gambling 'game' played on machines like one-armed bandits, really a cross between pokies and pinball - it uses steel balls which bounce down through a maze. The noise in the parlour was ferocious. With four lanes of machines stretching back 50 metres, the number of machines was astounding, and this place is only one of a number in Takamatsu. Not somewhere we were tempted to go in!
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| A pachinko parlour |
After being slightly disappointed with the famed garden at Okayama, probably due to the season, we weren't sure what to expect this time around. If anything Ritsurin garden was even more stunning than Kenroku-en Garden in Kanazawa. It had been founded in the late 16th century, and was only finally finished in 1745. It turned out to be a mixture of styles, with some wide open spaces like Okayama and also some very dense plantings more like Kanazawa. In one phrase it was jaw-dropping. We could have walked around it all again, and indeed might, if we have time tomorrow. As it was, it took us around 1.5 hours. It was great for photo taking - typically there was no-one nearby and it made the experience all the more peaceful and serene. We were both blown away. We can only imagine what the gardens must look like when the azaleas are in full bloom. Some plum blossoms were out already.
The vast area of lakes and ponds lent this garden an extra special flavour. In addition, there were a few punts on the lake, transporting people around for close views of plantings and structures on some of the islands in the ponds. To top it off, the most amazing collection of huge and colourful koi carp we have ever seen entertained us in a wonderful swirl of thrashing tails as they were fed a few titbits. The superlatives could go on, and on, but I think you get the gist of it. We'd LOVE to come back, especially if we could do it in April and catch the azaleas in bloom.
We've already decided we want to try and enhance the small Japanese style garden we have outside our bedroom at Walters Bluff. We already have a number of azalea bushes, two Japanese stone lanterns, a dwarf pine, rhododendron and non-invasive bamboo. It would be a lot of fun tweaking this, and expanding it. We already have plans to pull out a lot of our hebes and other plants with an aim towards drought-proofing the garden, so this will all be part of it.
We finished our visit of Ritsurin just on lunchtime, and there was a convenient noodle house opposite where we enjoyed our first bowl of udon in the home of udon. Nice fat, chewy noodles. After lunch we tried to find out if there was an old area of Takamatsu, but with little success. There are almost no Europeans to be seen here, and very little allowance made for non-Japanese speakers. The Japanese system of having food models outside restaurants helps, also the reasonably common use of photographs in menus, but almost half the restaurants have kanji only, and we can't even tell what type of meal they are serving, let alone prices and hours. The tourist information place was no use, so we set off ourselves, and eventually found a tiny area of funny little cafes and shops called Kitihama Alley. From there we tried to find a wax museum showing a major battle from the past, but ended up getting all kinds of funny looks as we traversed the red-light girly district before giving up for the day. Tourist maps are almost universally terrible with poor scaling, inaccurate streets and missing places, and this was one of the worst.
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| Corner tower of Takamatsu Castle |
A highlight was a hot coffee and chocolate from one of the vending machines - 100JPY or $1.30, and yes, they really do come out hot.
By the time we'd got back to the hotel, we'd done 18km! A workout for Karen, some blog for me, a shower and then out for dinner. The Ritsurin Garden alone made the detour to Takamatsu worth it.