You can sense a peaceful but lively atmosphere of the Dogo Hot Spa. Your five senses needed for haiku appreciation will be sharpened. And people' dedication to Buddhism will be felt.
The square in front of Dogo Station (your hotel if you want)
The sqaure in front of Dogo Station (A mechanical clock named Botchan Dokei & Botchan Tram)
Shiki Memorial Museum ( Built for a great haiku poetry master Shiki Masaoka, some haik monuments )
Ishite-ji Temple (One of the Shikoku 88 Sacred Places)
Isaniwa Shrine (Built in the 10th century in honor of Emperor Chuai and Empress Jingu)
Honkan, or the main building of Dogo Hot Spa (The animation film Spirited Away directed Miyazawa Hayao was crteated based on this)
The main building of Dogo Hot Spa or around there (your hotel if you want)
Dogo Hot Spa is believed to be the oldest one in Japan, dating three thousand years. In ancient times, for example in the 6th century, this area used to be an important stopping-off place to prepare an army and navy for a military campaign to the Korean peninsula. Then there were some emperors and empfresses who visited here. And anecdotedly, Prince Shotoku, who was a very famous figure in Japan's history for establishing the first Japanese constitution, came here. Along the way, you will surely sense a good, peaceful, lively atmosphere.
Matsuyama is the home to haiku, the 31-syllable poem. Shiki Masaoka, who was born here in 1867, 150 years ago. He renovated haiku, which was on the verge of collapse in those days. He was a a man now deemed a great master of haiku. There are many haiku monuments in the city. Along the way you will many haiku monuments. And I will give you some information and you will sharpen your five senses-sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch.Most of haiku come from human's sharpened senses.
And Shikoku is famous for henro pilgrimage. In Ishiteji Temple, one of the Shikoku 88 sacred temples, you will see pilgrims praying to the Buddha. And the temple's bell will satisfy you.
guide fee
The taxi fare( Your hotel is not in the Dogo area, and when you want to be picked up at yur hotel.)
I can guide you at other areas in Shikoku, if you would burden my travel expenses. The expenses are, for example, 8,000 yen at Kochi.
You should be sturdy enough to walk on the way to and from a nearby temple Ishiteji Temple, starting from Dogo.
If you want to be picked up at your hotel, it's possible. The hotel is not in the Dogo area, we should use a taxi. And you should pay the fare. And the time needed for us to reach the Dogo area is not included in the tour time of 3 hours.
Basically, the tour is desigend for the people up to 4. But the number will be actually extended to 9. The difference is that you have to pay another taxi fare if you wanted to be picked up at your hotel which is out of the Dogo area.
We had a great guided tour given by Kaz in Matsuyama. He had a challenge of making the tour interesting for teenagers all the way up to a 79 year old!.. He met the challenge with great enthusiasm, and as a result we saw parts of Matsuyama that we would not have seen on our own, I believe not even some locals know what we experienced. Thanks Kaz!
Thank you for your message to me, Simon. I also had a good time with you and your family members. What you were interested in led to us to a local sake brewer, which began its operation 1bout 120 years ago, and to a cozy garden of the most prestigios inn hotel in Matsuyama with a history of about 400 years. These are the spots they don't visit in a usual tour. As you said, among local people there are few who are so aware of these as you are. I hope you will come to Japan again some day in the future. Finally, please send my regards to your family. Thank you very much again, Simon !
Kaz was very helpful, reliable, well informed and responsive. A pleasure to have as a personal guide in unknown territory.
Thank you very much, Bob. I think you could stay in Ehime at a good time becuase it was just around the autumn festival day in Matsuyama. I hope you will visit Shikoku again in the future.
We had an awesome time with Kaz. We were able to see quite a lot and Kaz was very informative about the places we visited. Highly recommend!
Thank you very much for your message, Chelsea. The tour was not a long one,a half-day tour, but I think you could experience good places in Kochi. Now a big typhoon is attacking Japan. It is lucky for you that you could avoid it. The T-shirt your mother gave me at the pier suits very well. Please send my best regards to her. I would like to say again, thank you very much for having a good time with me.