Shikoku Mura

Shikoku Mura is an open-air museum dedicated to Shikoku's traditional architecture, family life, industrial and merchants' lives. This pleasant hillside park preserves and exhibits traditional buildings and structures that have been relocated here from all over Shikoku Island. Among the exhibited buildings, which mainly date from the Edo and Meiji periods, are a number of farmhouses and storehouses, as well as various traditional workshops that produced goods such as sugar and soya sauce. Other structures exhibited include bridges, a lighthouse and a kabuki theater with open-air seating, which occasionally hosts performances. One of the most popular attractions is a vine suspension bridge, made out of vine and wood. We really tried to cross the bridge, but we decided against it approximately 5 meters into the journey. The whole thing just swang and moved like crazy, so we opted for a nice walking path going around the pond.

The kabuki theater:

Family houses:

This is where they pressed the sugar canes:

A traditional lighthouse was also relocated here:

Soya sauce production press and trading houses:

After the Shikoku Village we went for ramen lunch serving traditional local udon with hot or cold broth. After queueing up, placing your order and paying you get seated and beong pointed at water and tea, which is always part of the deal.

In the afternoon we strolled around Takamatsu Art Museum, looking at some very nice artifacts:

More art: The Mont-Blanc cake is a seasonal craziness in Japan. As we're at the beginning of the chestnut season we bumped into a limited edition on this Mont Blanc cake: