Click here to return to our campaign overview and make a donation! 日本語でのご支援・ご協力はこちらのページをご覧下さい

We've learned a lot about yosakoi. Here's an opportunity to learn some iconic things about Kochi city and Kochi prefecture!

Credits: Kasia

Harimaya-bashi

The bridge of Harimaya appeared in the Yosakoi-bushi (read more about the yosakoi-bushi here!). As the lyrics go, a Buddhist priest was sighted buying a kanzashi (a kind of hair ornament) at a store next to the bridge, even though he had no need for one himself and being in a relationship was forbidden. So, he could only have been buying the ornament for a secret lover! There is a small statue by the bridge immortalizing the fated couple. I didn't take a photo of the statue but there's this Life in Kochi blog that has the picture.

This bridge is so iconic that when you arrive in Kochi's JR station you'll see a miniature version of it alongside some naruko (you can read about naruko in our blog post here!).

Photo credits: Daniel Rolandi

Katsurahama

Katsurahama is a crescent-shaped beach south of Kochi city. In the Yosakoi-bushi, it is said that Katsurahama is a good place to view the moon. Another notable thing is the statue of Sakamoto Ryoma, which is a good segue to the next iconic thing.

Learn more at VisitKochiJapan

Sakamoto Ryoma ((坂本龍馬)

I'll be frank: to cover everything about Sakamoto Ryoma would take longer than a small blog update. He's a prominent historical figure who contributed to the downfall of the feudal Tokugawa shogunate. At Katsurahama you can find the Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum and a statue of the man himself overlooking the area. Several films, TV series, and books have been created to cover Sakamoto Ryoma's life.

You can read more about it at nippon.com and ejmas.com

You'll see a lot of photos of him in this pose!

I'll stop here for now. Tune in for the 2nd part of this series to cover the iconic elements of Kochi! Perhaps one day you'll visit there :)

// Daniel