We had a longer drive ahead of us but fortunately it wasn’t to long before we could leave the mountainous roads behind us to drive on the highway towards Kochi. We bypassed the city continuing South to Kitagawa village where we visited the beautiful maintained “Monet’s garden”.
Half an hour further South at Cape Muroto we parked the car and walked the path along the rocky seashore. Most of the rocks here have been pushed up by many centuries of earthquakes. Millions of years ago these very rocks were at the bottom of the ocean. Along the trail we passed an Akou tree which is seen as a national treasure.
We returned to the parking lot along the main road and visited a small shrine. A bit further the Statue of Shintaro Nakaoka stands tall overlooking the ocean.
We continued on road 55 for a few kilometers until we saw a very large Buddha. As we entered and got to the ticket counter the old woman at the entrance spoke only Japanese but tried to explain something that we could not understand. Nevertheless we paid and got a brochure so all looked well. We climbed the stairs to the Statue of Young Kukai and the lying golden Buddha. It was then we saw workmen measuring stuff and realized that in fact, the place was closed for the public. Sometimes a language barrier has it’s advantages.
As this area is known for seismic activity, there’s an UNESCO sponsored museum with displays about geologic activity in this part of Shikoku and the tectonic plates South of the island.
The final stop before our accommodation was the Twin Rocks, two large rocks joined by a thick rope. We saw this a few times before in Japan and they are mostly called “married rocks”.
We arrived at the small beach house we rented around 16:30 and could relax on the back porch overlooking the ocean.