Kotohiki Park, Park in Kan'onji, Kagawa, Japan
Kotohiki Park is a 38.6-hectare prefectural park in Kan'onji, Kagawa Prefecture, on the Seto Inland Sea. It covers the pine-backed Ariakehama beach and the slopes of Kotohiki-yama, whose summit holds Kotohiki Hachimangū. From the Zōga-hana coin-shaped viewing platform the Zenigata suna-e, a large relief of sand shaped like a Kan'ei Tsūhō coin, is visible on the beach below.
Kotohiki Park opened as a Kagawa Prefecture park on 1 December 1897, with gardens designed by the gardener Ozawa Keijiro. It was nationally designated a Place of Scenic Beauty on 16 December 1936 and included in Setonaikai National Park on 1 May 1956. The coin-shaped sand drawing on the beach below dates in origin to 1633, made by local people to greet the new daimyo Ikoma Takatoshi.
The name Zenigata suna-e refers to the coin shape of the sand drawing, modelled on a Kanei tsuho coin and made by local people in 1633 to welcome the new daimyo Ikoma Takatoshi. Each year the drawing is reworked, and visitors view it from the observation point at Zogahana.
The park lies about 2 km from JR Kan'onji Station and roughly 6 km from the Onohara interchange of the Takamatsu Expressway. A driveway climbs Kotohiki-yama 570 m and descends 900 m, with a parking lot near the summit observation point. The park faces Ariake-hama beach on the Seto Inland Sea.
The coin-shaped sand drawing below the viewpoint is remade each year; local people created the first one in 1633 to welcome the new daimyō Ikoma Takatoshi. It measures about 122 metres by 90 metres and is best seen from the Kōzōga-hana observation point on Mount Kotohiki.
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