Kagawa

Kagawa is a compact, densely settled prefecture on the Sanuki plain, a lowland between the Sanuki Mountains and the Seto Inland Sea, dotted with flat-topped hills and thousands of irrigation ponds. It is the smallest prefecture by area, and its low rainfall has shaped its history, from the ponds built since antiquity to the canal that brings water from the Yoshino River.

The prefecture's name is synonymous with Sanuki udon, firm wheat noodles eaten at hundreds of self-service shops. Its cultural heritage includes Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, the mountain shrine of Kotohira-gū, one of Japan's most popular pilgrimage sites in the Edo period, and Zentsū-ji, birthplace of Kūkai. The last 23 temples of the Shikoku pilgrimage, the "dōjō of nirvana", lie in Kagawa, ending at Ōkubo-ji.

Offshore, Kagawa's islands have become an international art destination. Naoshima, Teshima and a dozen other islands host museums and installations, many shown during the Setouchi Triennale, while Shōdoshima is known for olives, soy sauce and gorges. The Great Seto Bridge links the prefecture with Okayama and Honshu.

Kagawa takes its name from Kagawa District (香川郡), one of the districts of Sanuki around present-day Takamatsu; tradition explains the name, "fragrant river", by a river scented by blossoms upstream.

The prefecture corresponds exactly to the province of Sanuki. In the Edo period Sanuki was divided mainly between the Takamatsu domain of the Matsudaira and the Marugame domain of the Kyōgoku, with the Konpira shrine lands and smaller holdings. After 1871 Kagawa was merged twice with neighbouring prefectures, into Myōdō (Tokushima) and then into Ehime, before becoming independent again in 1888, the last of the present prefectures to be established.

The Sanuki Mountains along the Tokushima border reach 1,060 metres at Mount Ryūō. North of them the Sanuki plain is scattered with conical and mesa-shaped hills of volcanic rock, such as the flat-topped Yashima in Takamatsu and Iinoyama, called Sanuki Fuji. The plain holds more than 10,000 irrigation ponds, Mannō-ike being the largest.

The Inland Sea coast is fronted by over a hundred islands, including Shōdoshima, the second-largest island in the Inland Sea, Naoshima and Teshima, the Shiwaku Islands, and Ibukijima, known for dried sardines. On the western coast, the tidal flats of Chichibugahama reflect the sky at low tide.

Kagawa has a typical Seto Inland Sea climate: mild, sunny and dry, with one of the lowest annual rainfalls in Japan. Droughts were a constant concern until the Kagawa Canal began bringing water from the Yoshino River in 1974. Winters are mild with little snow; summers are hot.

Sanuki was a productive province close to the capital. Kūkai was born at Zentsū-ji in 774 and restored the Mannō-ike reservoir. Emperor Sutoku was exiled here after the Hōgen Rebellion of 1156 and died in 1164. In 1185 the Minamoto defeated the Taira at Yashima, where Nasu no Yoichi is said to have shot a fan from a boat.

From 1642 the Matsudaira, relatives of the Tokugawa, ruled Takamatsu and completed Ritsurin Garden, while from 1658 the Kyōgoku governed Marugame. The shrine of Konpira (Kotohira-gū) drew pilgrims from all over Japan. The prefecture's modern history includes the ferry link across the Inland Sea, replaced in 1988 by the Great Seto Bridge.

Udon is part of everyday life in Kagawa: many residents eat it several times a week, and self-service and factory shops serve noodles from early morning. The prefecture's spiritual life centres on the henro temples, Kotohira-gū and Kūkai's birthplace at Zentsū-ji; pilgrims completing the circuit at Ōkubo-ji leave their staffs there.

Since 2010 the Setouchi Triennale has made the Inland Sea islands a showcase for contemporary art and island revitalisation. Traditional crafts include Kagawa lacquerware and the round fans of Marugame, which supply most of Japan's uchiwa.

Kagawa's cuisine grew from its dry climate: wheat, salt from the coast and dried sardines from the islands combined to make udon. Olives, introduced to Shōdoshima in 1908, and soy sauce and sōmen from the same island are other specialities, as is the fine sugar wasanbon.

Kagawa's economy combines shipbuilding and heavy industry on the coast at Sakaide and Marugame with food processing, including dried and frozen noodles, and specialist manufacturing such as gloves, of which the town of Higashikagawa is Japan's main producer. Agriculture is intensive on the small plain, and tourism has grown with the art islands.