At the end of last year and last weekend, I went to Shikoku to research tea houses.
In December 2025, I will be traveling to Ehime Prefecture with Professor Kobayashi from Yasuda Women's University.
In January 2026, I went to Kochi Prefecture with Professor Kurihara from Kumamoto Prefectural University.
First up is Ehime Prefecture. I wandered around looking for tea houses, mainly in Seiyo City.
Although there was existing documentation, it was difficult to find data on old addresses from before the merger of municipalities, and to match the old roads with the current roads.
Shikoku has a rather tropical image, but the mountains are cold and there is still snow here and there.
However, there are still a considerable number of tea halls remaining, and we were unable to see them all.
Also, the stone walls formed on the slopes are amazing. At first glance, the terraced fields appear narrow, but local residents told me that construction work was carried out during the Hatsuna period, making them wider and gentler than they used to be. If you look closely, you can see the extremely narrow and steep stone walls of the old days, which were left behind by abandoned farmland.
I would definitely like to visit again.
And Kochi Prefecture.
The coldest wave of cold hit us. And it was snowing... and piling up. Am I in Shikoku? Or maybe I'm in Tohoku by mistake? In this kind of scenery, we quietly investigated the tea house.
The tea hall was a place for villagers to gather and to welcome travelers. I thought that tea halls are especially necessary in modern times. A place for neighbors to gather and talk, for visitors to interact and socialize... I wonder if people today have the time and the heart to do so.
