Kochi: Local Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines & Temples, Sightseeing | Japan 47 Prefecture Guide
About 84 percent of Kochi is forest, the highest proportion of any prefecture. Human land is squeezed into a narrow strip between mountain and sea.
Local Specialties
Katsuo no tataki is bonito seared hard over straw on the outside and left raw within.
Why sear it? One account says the surface was treated with fire to guard against food poisoning. Another says the Tosa domain banned eating fish raw, so people adopted the form of having seared it. Either way, it is a speciality that came of getting round a restriction.
Yuzu ranks first in Japan for both harvest and area planted. Ginger too, along with Shimanto pork and local sake.
Souvenirs
Dried bonito, yuzu ponzu and yuzu kosho, game fowl. And Tosa washi.
Tosa tengujoshi is said to be thinner than the nib of a fountain pen, among the thinnest handmade papers in the world. Museums abroad use it to restore paintings.
Sacred Sites | Shrines & Temples
29 shrines and temples worth knowing in Kochi.
Tosa Jinja(Kochi)Shinto shrine / Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Tosa Province / Important Cultural Property / Central area / Blessings: warding off misfortune, good harvests
Seen from above, the halls form a dragonfly, an unusual layout called iri-tonbo-zukuri. Chosokabe Motochika rebuilt it.
Chikurinji(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 31 / Important Cultural Property / Central area / Blessings: study and exams, warding off misfortune
It has a five-storey pagoda and a garden designated a Place of Scenic Beauty. It is also known as the temple of Junshin, the monk of Harimayabashi in the Yosakoi song.
Hotsumisakiji(Muroto)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 24 / Important Cultural Property / Eastern area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal, warding off misfortune
Said to be where Kukai practised and took the name Kukai. The Mikurodo cave at Cape Muroto is held to be that place of practice. Kochi is the road of practice on the 88-temple circuit: it has only 16 temples, the fewest of the four prefectures, and the longest distance between them.
Kongofukuji(Tosashimizu)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 38 / Western area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal, warding off misfortune
It stands at the very tip of Cape Ashizuri. About 80 kilometres from the previous temple, it ends the longest stretch on the whole circuit.
Wakamiya Hachimangu(Kochi)Shinto shrine / Central area / Blessings: victory
Where Chosokabe Motochika prayed for victory in his first battle. A bronze statue of him stands in the grounds.
Chikurinji Gojunoto(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 31 / Central area / Blessings: study and exams
It stands on Mount Godai. The setting for Junshin, the monk of the Yosakoi song.
Chikurinji Teien(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Place of Scenic Beauty / Central area / Blessings: study and exams
A pond garden attributed to Muso Soseki.
Mikurodo(Muroto)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Eastern area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal, mountain worship
Where Kukai practised. Seeing only the sky and the sea from the cave mouth, he is said to have taken the name Kukai, sky and sea.
Shinshoji(Muroto)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 25 / Eastern area / Blessings: safe voyages
It carries a legend that its Kajitori Jizo, the helmsman Jizo, saved a ship.
Kongochoji(Muroto)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 26 / Important Cultural Property / Eastern area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Called the West Temple. It carries the memory of whaling.
Ashizuri Misaki(Tosashimizu)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Western area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
A cape from which monks set sail, believing the Pure Land lay beyond the southern sea.
Ichijo Jinja(Shimanto)Shinto shrine / Western area / Blessings: study and exams
The shrine of the little Kyoto of Tosa, founded by the Ichijo family after they fled the Onin War.
Zenjibuji(Nankoku)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 32 / Important Cultural Property / Central area / Blessings: safe voyages
It looks down on Tosa Bay. Sailors called it the Kannon of the ship's spirit.
Tosa Kokubunji(Nankoku)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 29 / Important Cultural Property / Historic Site / Central area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Ki no Tsurayuki came here. Known for its garden of hair-cap moss.
Zenrakuji(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 30 / Central area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
It was the administrative temple of Tosa Jinja.
Sekkeiji(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 33 / Important Cultural Property / Central area / Blessings: victory
The funerary temple of Chosokabe Motochika. It holds sculpture by Tankei, son of Unkei.
Tanemaji(Haruno)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 34 / Central area / Blessings: safe childbirth
Ladles with the bottoms knocked out are offered here in prayer for safe childbirth.
Kiyotakiji(Tosa)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 35 / Central area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
You can walk through the inside of the Yakuyoke Daishi figure.
Shoryuji (Kochi)(Tosa)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 36 / Central area / Blessings: victory
The source of the ring name of the yokozuna Asashoryu. He trained his legs on the 170 stone steps.
Iwamotoji(Shimanto)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 37 / Western area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
Five hundred and seventy-five paintings cover the ceiling of the main hall, from Buddhist images to Marilyn Monroe.
Enkoji(Sukumo)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 39 / Important Cultural Property / Western area / Blessings: long life
Its bronze bell, said to have been carried here on the back of a red turtle, is an Important Cultural Property.
Konomineji(Yasuda)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 27 / Eastern area / Blessings: mountain worship
You climb a slope so steep it is called the sheer vertical. The mother of Iwasaki Yataro of Mitsubishi came here daily.
Dainichiji (Kochi)(Konan)Buddhist temple / Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage, Temple No. 28 / Central area / Blessings: warding off misfortune
A great camphor here is said to cure ailments from the neck up.
Kujirazuka(Muroto)Buddhist temple / Eastern area / Blessings: good catches, rebirth and renewal
A mound to hold memorials for the whales that were taken. An awareness of receiving a life, given form.
Gochi Nyorai(Kochi)Buddhist temple / Central area / Blessings: study and exams
It enshrines Monju Bosatsu, and draws prayers for success in study.
Sugimoto Jinja(Ino)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Central area / Blessings: business prosperity
The Daikoku market, one of the three great festivals of Tosa, is held here. The home of Tosa washi.
Sugi no Osugi(Otoyo)Utaki (Ryukyuan sacred grove) / Special Natural Monument / Eastern area / Blessings: long life, the performing arts
Said to be 3,000 years old. The tree the singer Misora Hibari prayed to for success.
Kaneishi(Muroto)Buddhist temple / Eastern area / Blessings: rebirth and renewal
A stone that rings like metal when struck. The sound is said to reach the land of the dead.
Fuba Hachimangu(Shimanto)Shinto shrine / Important Cultural Property / Western area / Blessings: love and relationships
Its main hall is an Important Cultural Property. It preserves a rite in which the gods themselves are married.
Sightseeing
Breakdown: castle 1, historic townscape 1, nature / scenery 6, industrial heritage 2. 18 places to see in Kochi.
Godaisan(Kochi)garden / park / Central area
The mountain on which Chikurinji stands, and a place tied to the botanist Makino Tomitaro.
Hitsuzan(Kochi)nature / scenery / Central area
The graves of the Yamauchi, lords of the Tosa domain, are here.
Katsurahama(Kochi)nature / scenery / Central area
A statue of Sakamoto Ryoma looks out over the Pacific. Watatsumi Jinja stands at the tip of the cape.
Shinane-sai(Kochi)festival / event / Central area
One of the three great festivals of Tosa. It prays for the peace of the land.
Kochi-jo(Kochi)castle / Central area / Important Cultural Property / 1749
The only castle in Japan where both the keep and the honmaru palace survive.
Kure(Nakatosa)other / Central area
A town of pole-and-line bonito fishing. The market itself is the centre of daily life.
Muroto Geopark(Muroto)industrial heritage / Eastern area
Marine terraces that are still rising. A UNESCO Global Geopark.
Sakawa(Sakawa)museum / theatre / Central area
A town whose domain school, Meikyokan, produced a great many scholars.
Shimantogawa(Shimanto)industrial heritage / Western area
The last clear stream in Japan. Bridges here are built without railings, so that they simply go under when the river rises.
Nora Dokei(Aki)other / Eastern area / Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings / Preservation District for Traditional Buildings
A clock tower built so that farmers could tell the time. The samurai quarter survives.
Yosakoi Matsuri(Kochi)festival / event / Central area / 1954
Dancers carry naruko clappers. The original of a festival that spread across Japan.
Shimanto River(Shimanto and nearby)nature / scenery / Western area
The last clear stream in Japan. Forty-seven bridges without railings, built to go under when the river rises.
Katsurahama(Kochi)nature / scenery / Central area
A statue of Sakamoto Ryoma looks out over the Pacific. It was sung of as a place to view the moon.
Hirome Market(Kochi)historic townscape / Central area / 1998
An indoor market of gathered stalls. Bonito seared over straw.
Cape Ashizuri(Tosashimizu)nature / scenery / Western area
The southernmost point of Shikoku. An 80-metre cliff and a white lighthouse.
Niyodo River(Niyodogawa and nearby)nature / scenery / Western area
Niyodo blue. It has been chosen many times as having the finest water quality in Japan.
Makino Botanical Garden(Kochi)garden / park / Central area / 1958
A memorial to Makino Tomitaro, the father of Japanese botany. It grows 3,000 species.
Nora Dokei(Aki)museum / theatre / Eastern area / 1887
A clock tower a landowner built himself so that the farmers could tell the time.
Traditional Crafts
Two crafts hold national designation: Tosa washi and Tosa forged blades.
Tosa forged blades are known for not being standardised. A nata for the mountains, a hoe for the field: each one is shaped to the body of the person and the ground they work. The opposite direction from Sakai, which built a professional standard. Behind it lies the fact that the forests are vast and the demand for mountain tools never let up.
More: VILLAGE Journal vol.10 — Choosing not to standardise（リンク先は現在公開されていません）
More from This Prefecture
See all Kochi articles ← All 47 prefectures
Sources: Kochi Prefecture, City of Kochi, City of Tosa, Ino Town, Forestry Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village editorial team