Chikurinji and Kochi Castle

Chikurinji is a lovely temple near the Makino Botanical Gardens. it is set on top of a wooded hill with a view of the city and countryside below. The property is green and has scattered flowering shrubs around.

Chikurinji

The pagoda is large and painted red. It sits above all of the other buildings and is lit up at night. This is a very nice temple to visit if you want somewhere nice to relax. I'd also recommend visiting the botanical garden and observation deck to make a day of it. It is very easy to get to by car but y bus is a bit more complicated. Tourists do get a discount on the bus fare if you show your passport though.

Chikurinji

I don't know if it was a special occasion or not but the colourful flags on the temple building were very different from other temples I have visited in Japan that usually lacked bright colours and had white flags if any on the temple.

Chikurinji

There are small paths around the temple that lead you to areas set back from the temple where natural vegetation is growing around old stone monuments.

Wash basin at Chikurinji

Some of the monuments are dressed up in red bibs and hats. Apparently this tradition was first done to Ojizo-sama (aka Jizo) statues since he is the deity responsible as guardian of children. Parents who have lost a young child place their child's bib on the statue so that the deity will protect them in the afterlife.

Chikurinji

Red is the colour for repelling demons and illness so many other statues can now be decked out in red clothing. Red bibs are now a sign of protecting the deities, such as Inari the deity of agriculture or Kitsune his messenger, from illness so that crops will be safe and grow healthy.

Statue at Chikurinji

The temple was home to some interesting wildlife including spring flora, a large diversity of ferns and a new species of frog for me. As an added bonus I was lucky enough to see the large bright green frogs in amplexus (embrace of mating) in a pond.

Crowdipper (Pinellia ternata)

Schlegel's Green Tree Frog (Rhacophorus schlegelii)

 The lighting was spectacular in some of the trees making them look incredibly lush green. Photos can't really capture the full beauty of it sadly

Japanese Maple

The view from the parking lot was lovely and you could see the city spreading out to the left of the river and the countryside to the right of it. I still cannot explain why the mountains in Japan constantly have a haze to them even on days that aren't humid and shouldn't have smog.

View from parking lot at Chikurinji

I have visited Kochi Castle a few times now but this sunny day made for a very nice walk around the temple, which looked a lot greener than when I had visited it in the cherry blossom season. Rhododendrons and Waterlilies were blooming and the trees were bright fresh green.

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

This visit I actually took the tour. English tour guides are available for free after you pay admission to the lookout tower. They just walk you around the lookout tower and the building attached to it.

Kochi Castle, Kochi, Japan

The building includes a reception hall where the lord would sit and you can see the samurai doors where samurai hid behind ready to jump out and protect the lord from any attackers. The doors are quite small and I can't imagine it was comfortable to sit in there. Also I don't know how easy it is to get out of such a small doorway quickly.

Meeting hall at Kochi Castle

Samurai doors beside where the lord sat in Kochi Castle

The models present inside the buildings give you the best idea of what the castle looked like before most of the buildings were torn down and replaces with the gardens and park areas present today.

Model of Kochi Castle

The view from the top of the lookout tower has the wooded area of park areas of the castle and the city appears to be much further below than you would expect since the tower is only a few stories high. Historically the area would be clear so that guards could see approaching enemies. During the tour they didn't give any stories of old battles at the castle but I assume someone had to attack it at one point or another.

Kochi Castle View

The lord of Kochi Castle is said to have rose to power because of his very clever wife who as her dowry bought him a very very fast and strong horse. This lead him to impress people during his military experience and get rewarded with higher status. The statue of her and the horse is one of the few scattered around the castle grounds.

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The canal surrounding part of the castle is full of turtles, however I don't think a single one of the ones I have seen is native to Japan. They were all out basking on rocks on the edge of the canal. I saw about 6 of them in one place!

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta)

Chinese Softshell Turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis)