Wednesday, 19 November 2025

Why did I come to Shikoku? To visit one of Japan’s great gardens, Ritsurin Garden. There were other reasons to come here but they fell apart so I was left with this one, which was the primary reason anyway.

The garden was very popular. I saw a couple of groups of elementary students with their teachers. The kids in each of the groups had coloured caps on. I don’t know if this is coordinated to ensure they can be returned if they wander off but it was very cute. There were quite a few photographers roaming around and people out in kimono having photos taken. I don’t know if today was a significant day but there were a lot of them hitting the prime spots around the garden. When I was relaxing on the tatami in a teahouse a couple in full Shinto wedding outfits came in for a photo shoot. I think I pretty much walked around the whole garden, I certainly did the southern circuit and while there wasn’t a lot of autumnal colour it was still a very beautiful garden.

So onto some photos.

parade of children

so much manicuring going on

a local

a spider has been busy

might just be litter but

the cycads are over 300 years old

fisheye makes an appearance

the beautiful teahouse feature later

you could take a boat ride

one of the prime photo shoot locations was that bridge

inside the teahouse

the relaxing view

Shinto wedding

stunning kimono

a bit zen

lost count of the red bridges

some crazy fish

brilliant

ume plums not participating in autumn

maples

more colour

on the northern circuit

reflections

Another travel day tomorrow as it’s back to Honshu.