Kotohira
琴平Kotohira is a town built around an ascent. Rising from the agricultural plain of central Kagawa, the densely forested hill of Zozu-san shelters Konpira-san, one of the most beloved and historically significant shrines in Japan, and the long stone stairway that climbs from the town to the shrine's innermost sanctuary has been worn smooth by the feet of pilgrims, merchants, actors, and travelers for the better part of a millennium. The Konpira pilgrimage was one of the great journeys of Edo-period Japan, rivaling the pilgrimage to Ise in popularity and exceeding it, arguably, in the variety of pleasures available along the way, and the town that grew at the mountain's base to serve the pilgrim traffic developed a character of unusual richness, combining the sacred commerce of a shrine town with the worldly entertainments that travelers have always sought.
Konpira-san, formally known as Kotohira-gu, is dedicated to Omono-nushi-no-mikoto, a deity associated with maritime safety, and the shrine's popularity among sailors, fishermen, and merchants engaged in sea trade gave it a national reach that transcended regional boundaries. Sailors unable to make the pilgrimage in person would set offerings adrift in barrels marked with the shrine's name, trusting the currents and the kindness of strangers to deliver them to Konpira's shores, and this practice of vicarious pilgrimage speaks to the depth of devotion the shrine inspired and the ingenuity with which that devotion found expression.
The 1,368 stone steps that lead from the town to the inner shrine constitute the pilgrimage's physical and spiritual structure. The ascent is graded, the lower steps broader and more gentle, lined with souvenir shops, sweet sellers, and the remnants of the entertainment district that once made the Konpira pilgrimage as much a pleasure excursion as a devotional journey. The upper steps narrow and steepen as the forest closes in, and the commercial atmosphere gives way to a stillness broken only by birdsong and the sound of footsteps on stone.
Kotohira is a town built around an ascent.
Highlights
The ascent to Konpira-san's main shrine at the 785th step rewards the climb with a sudden opening of space and light. The shrine buildings, set on a terrace carved from the hillside, look out over the Sanuki Plain to the Inland Sea, and the view encompasses the fertile landscape that sustained the shrine's community and the maritime routes whose safety its deity was invoked to protect. The main hall's architecture, combining the elegant proportions of the Momoyama period with centuries of careful restoration, achieves a balance between grandeur and intimacy that reflects the shrine's dual role as a national pilgrimage site and a local spiritual anchor.
The Shoin, a reception hall within the shrine precinct, contains fusuma paintings by the Edo-period master Maruyama Okyo that rank among the finest examples of the naturalist school of Japanese painting. The tiger and crane panels, executed with the precision and vitality that made Okyo's reputation, justify a visit to Kotohira even for travelers whose interest in shrine architecture is limited. The paintings' setting, in rooms designed to receive the shrine's most distinguished visitors, provides a context for their viewing that no museum can replicate.
The Kanamaru-za, Japan's oldest surviving kabuki theater, stands in the town below the shrine and preserves the atmosphere of the Edo-period entertainment culture that was inseparable from the Konpira pilgrimage. The building, completed in 1835, retains its original stage, hanamichi walkway, and mechanical devices for set changes, and the annual kabuki performances held each April bring the theater to life with the art form for which it was designed, the audience seated on tatami mats in a space whose proportions and acoustics are calibrated to the human voice and the shamisen.
Culinary Scene
The Konpira pilgrimage road is lined with sweet shops and confectioneries whose specialties have sustained pilgrims for centuries. Konpira ame, the hard amber candy sold in wooden boxes stamped with the shrine's emblem, is the most traditional of these offerings, its simple sweetness designed to provide energy for the climb. Kamaboko, the fish paste shaped and sliced into decorative forms, is another Konpira specialty, its preparation elevated to an art form in the shops that line the lower stairway.
Kotohira shares in the udon culture that saturates Kagawa, and several highly regarded udon shops in the town offer the opportunity to experience sanuki udon in a setting where the meal is part of the pilgrimage rather than an interruption of it. The noodles served in Kotohira's udon shops benefit from the same water and wheat that make Kagawa's udon the finest in Japan, and the appetite sharpened by the stairway climb makes the simplest bowl taste profound.
The Konpira area's proximity to the agricultural heartland of Kagawa brings seasonal vegetables and fruit to the local table with a freshness that reflects the short distance from field to kitchen. The wasanbon sugar produced in this region, refined through a labor-intensive traditional process into a sweetness of extraordinary delicacy, appears in the handmade higashi dry sweets that are Kagawa's most refined confection, their pressed forms dissolving on the tongue in a whisper of flavor that rewards the attention of the discerning palate.
