10‏/12‏/2016

The Yashima Plateau

Spend a day exploring historic Yashima

By Anonymous

Community writer

Yashima dominates the skyline in West Takamatsu

The cape, Nagasaki no Hana, on the far north side of the Yashima Plateau

The path that leads down from the ruins back to the main trail

The stones of the restored ruins are cunningly piled atop each other

One of the small shops around the temple grounds

A great museum filled with sculptures, paintings, and more

A small garden that can be viewed from the museum

One of the older buildings in the complex

The grounds of Yashima Temple, number 84 of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage

This is a small shrine for tanuki, the Japanese raccoon-dog that is often featured in folklore. Many people feed Tanuki around Yashima Plateau and so they can be quite friendly.

Tanuki are especially popular in Takamatsu. This Tanuki-human character is featured on many city posters.

An amazing waterbowl statue with relief carving

Yashima Plateau is a great place to spend the day. The most popular attraction is the temple, Yashima-ji, number 84 of the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. Many tanuki (Japanese Raccoon-dog) statues can be found around the temple and there is even a tanuki shrine within the temple grounds. The temple has a museum which houses a stunning collection of art and is definitely worth the entrance price. From inside the museum, you can see a private garden, which has a unique aesthetic.

South of the temple are the recently rediscovered and restored ruins of the ancient Yashima Castle, Yashima no Ki, which was built by the Yamato clan in the 600s to bolster regional defense. It is a great place to get a good view of Takamatsu city. The castle and plateau played a role several centuries later in the Gempei wars during the Battle of Yashima.

Although not its original name, nearby Blood Pond takes its name from the red color the algae give the water. A local folk legend says that it was given its name when warriors washed their swords in the pond during the Gempei War, but that isn’t substantiated in the historic record. It was originally associated with a legend that the hand of Buddha came out from heaven and placed a green stone deep into the earth creating a depression that filled with water becoming a pond.

There are a lot of little shops, long walking paths, flowering trees, cherry blossoms, maples, and more all around the area connecting the parking lots, sites, and the pilgrimage trail. Nagasaki no Hana, a nearby cape on the north side of Yashima Plateau, is also worth a visit.