Kitagawa town and Kochi, July 5 – 6, 2025
Monet’s Lily pond at Kitagawa town, Kochi Castle and Hachikin burger
On September 7th last year, I was watching TV Tokyo’s Saturday night program “Hebel haus museum” on Water Lilies of Manet. In the episode, it introduced Marmottan au Village de Kitagawa, a garden of some 30,000 square meters with lily pond which reproduced Monet’ garden in Giverny, France. Kitagawa town is located east side of Kochi prefecture on the island of Shikoku. I heard staff had visited Kitagawa town all the way from Giverny to support their efforts to create a Giverny garden there. The exchange between them is continuing now. The town sends their gardeners frequently to Giverny to seek their guidance from the foundation to keep the garden what Monet would like. There is a railway to the town. However, I chosen to go by car from the Kochi airport to make the most of my stay which is just two days. I am returning to Haneda by the following day’s flight.
The flight started to descend slowly around when it reached Shikoku island. Blue beautiful ocean appeared below the aircraft just after it came out of the clouds. When was the last time I saw such a beautiful ocean?
I put the address into the GPS and checked out at Toyota before 09:30 and headed toward Kitagawa town, which is a drive of about one and half hours watching the pacific ocean. Destination was Marmottan au Village de Kitagawa. I could go by train and bus. But I did not want to waste my time. I know the best time to watch water lilies is morning. Sooner the better. I wanted to get there as soon as I could. It is some 50 kilometers from the airport. I drove most of the route by express way. I got the garden by 10:20. There is a Monet’s lilies pond about five minute walk from the entrance into the garden. It welcomes me with some white lilies on the pavement towards the pond. It is very beautiful place. There were a lot of dragonflies flying around the pond. I found some flowers were open under the morning sunshine. This sector was built under strict supervision by Foundation Claude Monet which owns gardens in Giverny. Marmottan au Village de Kitagawa sends their gardeners to Giverny regularly. So I think what I am watching is almost same as what Monet would have watched. The garden was tiny. It is located in quite place between mountains. Air is clear. There is nothing to destruct. I stayed the garden longer than I planned originally. I also took a walk to the top of the hill.
It was around twelve o’clock. Time to grab something. I did not feel hungry much. But I wanted to have something. I found a bakery shop near the souvenir shop in the garden. I found a Hachikin(Hachi-kin) Burger on their menu board. I asked the staff what the Hachikin burger is. She told me ” It is a chicken burger made with a local bred chicken called “Hachikin” . I asked her. Is Hachikin a local word for an cheerful and competitive woman in Tosa dialect. She smiled and said so. I understand it is a wordplay with the local bred Chicken and the local word. I instantly decided to order it with a cup of coffee. She suggested I can eat at the second floor of next restaurant. I climbed upstairs of the restaurant and sit on the table on the second floor. It is fully airconditioned. The burger has a slice of tomato, a leaf of lettuce and a slice of cheese. The meat is moist, chewy and tasty. There was no side dish like French fries. I was enough for me. Beside, it was good relief that I could spend time in an airconditioned room.
I droved to Kochi city through the same road I had come. At an ENEOS gas station near JR.Kochi station, I refueled gas and checked in at Toyota around 3 o’clock. I walked towards the direction of the Hotel under the scorching sunshine. I felt the sunshine in Kochi is strong. As I came to Kochi just to visit Marmottan au Village de Kitagawa, I had no other plan to do afterwards. Maybe I should visit Hirome Ichiba, where a bunch of small restaurants and shops gather and offer drinks and food. After check in at the hotel and took shower, I decided to walk towards Kochi castle. I found Hirome Ichiba on the way. It was near 5 o’clock. The fully air-conditioned building with tiny restaurants, ezakaya was full of people who were enjoying drinks and food. I decided to go. After the covid 19 pandemic, I have become uncomfortable being in a crowded place. Maybe I could return here someday. Maybe. I got on the tram to JR.Kochi station. I thought there are some place to eat or buy some food here. There were a tourist information and some souvenir shops. I got on the tram again to the main shopping street. Near Daimaru department, I bought a pack of Tosayaki dumplings and gyoza dumplings for tonight snack. I found the road sign “Harimaya-bashi bridge”. It is near there. I thought I can go and see tomorrow. I really wanted to return to the room and take shower now.
The next morning, I woke up with the noise from the street in front of the hotel. I opened the window and looked down the street. I found there were people who were setting up tents on the road. It was a Sunday morning markets. I changed my cloth and went out to stroll the streets. First I walked toward the tram street. Cause I wanted to see Harimaya bridge, one of the three disappointing landmarks in Japan: Oranda slope, Nagasaki; Clock tower, Sapporo; and this Harimaya bridge, Kochi. Those landmarks are famous but many of those who come to see feel disappointed as they were not what people had imagined in size. Yeah…it is small! But I like it. The canal which existed here was large before it was reclaim. and the bridge at that time must have been wide. So the bridge here now is just a reproduce to tell there had been a canal and its bridge once.
After visiting the bridge, I walked towards Kochi Castle through the Sunday Morning Market. The main street was blocked for vehicles during the market time on Sundays. There were a lot of shops on the street. They come from various part of the prefecture to sell fresh vegetables, fruits, pickles, food, Bonsai, sweets, bakery, to name a few. The end of the street is the entrance of Kochi Castle, the seat of Tosa clan, where assessed rice yield was half million units, or ninety million litters of rice. They are considered an influential clan inside the Shogunate government. Yamanouchi Yodo, lord of the clan, was known as Suigei-Kou, or A drunk lord in the sea of whales. People of Kochi is known as boozers. I learned there were harsh discrimination against lower class Samurai by upper class ones in Edo period. I guess they drink alcohol well by various reasons in the region. I entered into the castle through Otemon main gate. I continued to climb up the stair to the Tenshukaku tower under the Summer morning shine. I saw the stature of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, the founder of the clan and his wife Chiyo on my way. Through her dedications to her husband, Yamanouchi climbed up the ladder and was bestowed the land of Tosa, now Kochi, which was worth 200,000 units or 36 million litters of rice. She was later known as a shining example of good wife. After about ten minutes, I climbed up to the top where the access to the tower castle is located. If it were not early morning, I would not have decided to go up.
After breakfast at the hotel, I checked out and headed to JR. Kochi station. After buying souvenir there, I was watching Yosakoi dance at the stage. The dance is one of art forms of an energetic group dance with colorful costumes. Kochi is known as its birthplace of the dance. This dance is now performed across the nation. There are a lot of dance groups of Yosakoi. They are a group coming from Kagawa, the neighboring prefecture to show their dance. It gave me positive energy with their dance. I decided to take a bus to the airport.