is a

city park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to resi ...

located in the city of Kan'onji,

Kagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020) and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at . Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tok ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. It is located within the borders of the

Setonaikai National Park is a Japanese national park, comprising areas of Japan's Seto Inland Sea, and of ten bordering prefectures. Designated a national park in 1934, it has since been expanded several times. It contains about 3,000 islands, known as the Setouchi Isl ...

. The park is famous for its (''lit''. 'coin-shaped sand-drawing'), dating in origins to 1633 when it was created by the local people to greet their new daimyō

Ikoma Takatoshi was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period, who ruled the Takamatsu Domain. He was the son-in-law of Doi Toshikatsu. Takatoshi lost rulership of the Takamatsu domain due to an uprising within the fief. The shogunate attaindered his domai ...

; Its gardens were designed by gardener Ozawa Keijiro and are noted for

cherry blossoms A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

azaleas Azaleas are flowering shrubs in the genus ''Rhododendron'', particularly the former sections ''Tsutsusi'' (evergreen) and '' Pentanthera'' (deciduous). Azaleas bloom in the spring (April and May in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, and Octob ...

wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north o ...

, and

camellias ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controversy ...

. Kotohiki Park opened as a prefectural park in 1897. It was nationally designated as a

Place of Scenic Beauty is a collective term used by the Japanese government's Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties to denote Cultural Properties of JapanIn this article, capitals indicate an official designation as opposed to a simple definition, e.g "Cultural ...

in 1936. The park is located near and , temples 68 and 69 of the

Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long history ...

;

Kotohiki Hachiman-gū Kotohiki may refer to: * Kotohiki Beach, a beach in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan * Kotohiki Park, a park in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan * Kayoko Kotohiki, a character in the novel ''Battle Royale'' {{disambiguation ...

; and the pine-clad Ariake beach.

References

Parks and gardens in Kagawa Prefecture Places of Scenic Beauty Kan'onji, Kagawa {{Kagawa-geo-stub

See also

References