Utazu's Temples of Love

Utazu first struck me as a holy town with many saints and churches. I spotted a St Catherine Hotel and a St Catherine building on the map, passed an apartment block named St Honore, and in the distance, saw church spires and a cross. I walked on to discover a cathedral, complete with bells in the belfry, turrets, steeples, and resplendent grounds, but alas, with statues of cherubs and Greek goddess types. Definitely, it was no church. It was a wedding chapel.

I walked on and found a St Catherine’s Church, but instead of hymns being played from the loudspeaker, the schmaltzy love songs told me it was another wedding chapel. Along the seafront, I encountered a few more, soon explained by a plaque telling me this was The Lover’s Sanctuary, where lovers swear their love, sealed most aptly with a padlock chained to a bench or tree. A blissful mother of some bride has dedicated the plaque to all lovers optimistically soon to be wedded and their rosy future ahead. No wonder this was Utazu’s busy Cupid area, with temples of love galore in the many wedding chapels. It was in the right place, by the sea. The scenery was heavenly.

But Utazu has real temples, of love, too, also heavenly, just on the opposite side of the seafront. Utazu used to be a prosperous salt town. Ancient merchant houses and temples can be found on this side, including Goshoji Temple 78 and Ubushina Shrine. Goshoji, to keep company with Utazu’s other saints, was rebuilt in the 13th century by a St. Ippen.

Part of Goshoji was being renovated, but I could traipse all around it. Apart from the main shrine, it contained nooks and corners on different levels which made for interesting discoveries. I just needed to avoid being hit by a truck or tripping over wet canvas and slabs of wood. A few of the other temples on this stretch were also being renovated. Goshoji had a Japanese garden with koi pond, but it was closed up. I guess they want you to pray rather than wander around sunk in the scenery. However it was Ubushina Shrine that was really heavenly.

Although Ubushina is not a henro joint, the crossed ends of its rooftops jut out in thick foliage that is always irresistible to me, and it is visible even from far off. The usual steep narrow steps were in a corridor of towering trees, and took me to a shrine high enough up to get a view of the town below. The shrine at the top was shrouded in its own silence, embedded in the verdant greenery of the grounds. There was no one but me, and a horse, a common feature at other shrines. The horse, preferably a live one, but stone will do as at Ubushina, is the intermediary between the spirit world of the kami and ours.

I could look at Utazu as a town with young love on one side, and rather old love on the other, both heavenly. I spent a day each on both sides. It’s good to have two perspectives.    

Hopefully helpful

Utazu is five minutes by train from Marugame Station.