Shikoku

Shikoku lies south of western Honshu across the Seto Inland Sea and east of Kyushu across the Bungo Channel. Its name means "four provinces", after the ancient provinces of Awa, Sanuki, Iyo and Tosa, which became the prefectures of Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kochi. It is the least populous of the main islands and the only one without a Shinkansen line.

The Shikoku Mountains divide the island sharply. The northern coast faces the calm, island-studded Inland Sea and is relatively dry and densely settled, with the cities of Takamatsu and Matsuyama; the south faces the Pacific, open to typhoons and warm currents, with the long, sparsely populated coast of Kochi. In between lie deep valleys such as Iya and rivers like the Yoshino, Niyodo and Shimanto, known for their clear water.

Shikoku is best known for the henro, a circular pilgrimage of about 1,200 kilometres to 88 temples associated with the monk Kūkai, who was born in Sanuki in 774. Pilgrims in white, walking or travelling by car and bus, are a familiar sight, and local people traditionally offer them osettai, small gifts of food or help. Other draws include Dōgo Onsen in Matsuyama, the udon of Kagawa, the Awa Odori dance of Tokushima and the art islands of the Inland Sea.

The Shikoku Mountains run east–west through the island, rising to Ishizuchi-san (1,982 m), the highest peak in western Japan, and Tsurugi-san (1,955 m). The Median Tectonic Line, Japan's longest fault system, runs along the northern foot of the mountains and is followed by the Yoshino River in Tokushima.

The northern coast includes the Sanuki plain, Japan's great landscape of irrigation ponds, and the islands of the Inland Sea. The Pacific coast is rugged, with capes at Muroto and Ashizuri, and the ria coast of Uwajima faces Kyushu. Three bridge routes link Shikoku with Honshu: the Akashi Kaikyō and Ōnaruto bridges via Awaji Island, the Great Seto Bridge, and the Shimanami Kaido.

The Inland Sea coast has a mild, dry climate; Kagawa is one of the driest places in Japan and has relied on reservoirs since antiquity. The Pacific side is warm and very wet, with heavy rain in the rainy season and typhoon season, and Kochi receives much more rain than Takamatsu. The high mountains are cold, with snow on the summits in winter.

Shikoku's four provinces were established under the ritsuryō state, and the island's remoteness made it a place of exile, pilgrimage and ascetic training. Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), born at Zentsū-ji in Sanuki in 774, founded Shingon Buddhism, and from the medieval period pilgrims followed a circuit of sites linked with him, which took its present form of 88 temples in the Edo period.

In the late sixteenth century Chōsokabe Motochika of Tosa nearly unified the island before submitting to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1585. Under the Tokugawa the island was divided among domains such as Tokushima (Hachisuka), Takamatsu (Matsudaira), Matsuyama, Uwajima (Date) and Tosa (Yamauchi). Tosa men including Sakamoto Ryōma played a major role in the Meiji Restoration, and Kochi later became the centre of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. The bridges completed between 1988 and 1999 ended the island's dependence on ferries.

The henro shapes Shikoku's culture more than anything else: temple lodgings, pilgrim paths, stone markers and the custom of osettai run through all four prefectures, each of which forms one stage of the spiritual journey. Summer is the season of great dance festivals, from the Awa Odori in Tokushima to the Yosakoi in Kochi.

Each prefecture has a strong character. Kagawa is devoted to udon; Tokushima keeps the puppet theatre of Awa Ningyō Jōruri and indigo dyeing; Ehime is the land of citrus, Dōgo Onsen and the haiku poet Masaoka Shiki; and Kochi is known for its outspoken, convivial people, katsuo no tataki and drinking culture.