Temples & Gardens of Ancient Japan

Meet fellow travelers at the designated meeting point and transfer to Heritage Adventurer, where your captain and expedition team will welcome you aboard. Enjoy welcome drinks and dinner as you set sail tonight.

This morning, arrive in Takamatsu, located on Shikoku Island on the northern shores of the Seto Inland Sea. From here, visit the small town of Kinashi, which has a rich history of producing bonsai for 250 years. Explore the town, visit a bonsai nursery, and make your way to Ritsurin Garden, recognized as one of the most beautiful in Japan and built by feudal lords in the early Edo period. With a backdrop of the wooded Mount Shiun, wander along the paths of this historic landscape garden dotted with ponds, historic trees, and pavilions. Enjoy an afternoon at leisure exploring Takamatsu town.

From the port of Uno-Ko, visit one of Japan’s most famed gardens, Koraku-en, which translates as "garden of pleasure after." This 17th-century formal garden has 28 acres of walking trails, ponds, plum and cherry trees. This afternoon, continue to Kurashiki, where you can explore the old merchant quarter and its fine 17th-century wooden warehouses painted white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with koi. There is also a chance to visit the Ohara Museum of Art, which includes rare works by Matisse, Picasso, and Renoir as well as collections from Japan’s famous Mingei movement, including ceramics by Hamada Shoji.

Arrive this morning in Hiroshima for your visit to the compelling Peace Memorial Park. The park is dotted with memorials, including the Cenotaph, which contains the names of all the known victims of the A-bomb, and the permanently lit "Flame of Peace." Just outside the park, the A-Bomb Dome is a haunting reminder of the destructive forces that were unleashed on the city, being one of the few original buildings to survive. In the museum, see photos, videos, and the victims’ personal effects relating to the bomb. Over lunch, sail to Miyajima, which is considered one of Japan’s top scenic wonders and provides a picture-postcard vista of the scarlet Torii gate, the giant camphor wood gates at the entrance to the Shinto shrine. You can use zodiacs to go ashore this afternoon and explore the Itsukushima Jinja Shrine, founded in the 6th century and dedicated to three sea goddesses.

This morning, arrive in Shikoku Island and the port of Uwajima, which is nestled deep within the sawtoothed coast of Uwajima Bay. The city of Uwajima is emerging as the nation’s largest pearl cultivation center, and visitors can learn about the processes of implanting, harvesting, extracting, and sorting pearls on a visit to a pearl farm. See Uwajima Castle, which is built on top of the hill with panoramic views over the town and harbor, and the Tensha-en Garden, built in the Samurai era. The afternoon is free to explore at your own pace. Maybe make your way to the Date Museum, which exhibits items dedicated to the Date family, who ruled Uwajima from the castle for 250 years during the Tokugawa period.

At sea, set sail for the very south of Kyushu and the island of Yakushima, which became Japan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 and has a particularly diverse flora. Spend the afternoon on a choice of nature walks in Yakusugi Land, a nature park populated by a number of the island’s ancient cedar trees, such as the Buddha Sugi, Futago Sugi, and Sennen Sugi, which are over 3,000 years old.

Arrive this morning in Nagasaki, the second city destroyed by an atomic bomb in World War II. Tour the Peace Memorial Park, the Atomic Bomb Museum, and Dejima Island, which was built during the Edo period to accommodate Portuguese Christian missionaries and prevent the propagation of their religion. It was also the residential quarters of the Dutch, the only foreigners allowed to trade in Japan during the Sakoku (isolation) period. For 200 years, until Japan reopened the country in the 19th century, Dejima was its only window to the world. With the reopening of the port to Westerners in the latter half of the 19th century, Nagasaki blossomed as a prosperous and sophisticated international city. Suitable housing was required for the sudden influx of foreigners who made their homes here, and many of the stone and clapboard residences that were built during this period survive today and are preserved in Glover Garden, which you can visit this afternoon. The best-known European-style residence here is Glover House, which was built in 1863 and was the setting for Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly.

Spend a relaxing morning at sea as you sail to Hagi, which was a minor fishing port until Mori Terumoto fortified it in 1604—and it was Mori Samurai that helped spark off the anti-Tokugawa revolt in the mid-19th century. It is now best known for its traditional pottery-making. This afternoon, explore the Teramachi District with its temples and shrines, the Jokamachi District, where you can find the old Samurai houses, and also take time to explore Hagi Castle, Shizuki Park, and Tokoji Temple.

Crossing over to South Korea, embark on a full-day excursion to magnificent Gyeongju, a World Heritage Site, which is often described as the world’s finest open-air museum embracing ancient Korean history and Buddhist culture. As the ancient capital of the Shilla Dynasty, Gyeongju’s cultural heritage dates back to the first millennium. Today, as you stroll through some of the hundreds of excavated monuments, temples, tombs, and pagodas, there will be time to explore the National Museum with its exceptional collection of finely worked gold jewelry, metal weapons, and distinctive pottery. This afternoon, enjoy a cultural performance of traditional dance.

Spend a leisurely morning at sea as you return to Japan and the port of Sakaiminato. This afternoon, there will be a choice of excursions. You may choose to visit Matsue, the "town of water," which nestles between a scenic lake and a large lagoon. Visit the cultural attractions of the town, including the 17th-century Matsue Castle, before enjoying a boat ride along the local canals. Alternatively, visit the Adachi Museum of Art, which is set in a beautiful natural environment and well known for both its superb Japanese gardens and its collection of contemporary Japanese paintings, comprising approximately 1500 of the country’s most highly regarded paintings produced after the Meiji period.

Kanazawa is a thriving center of the arts, long known for its lacquerware, outstanding collectable pottery of the Kutani style, gold-leaf workmanship, delicate hand painting of silk for kimonos, and Noh theatre dramas. The narrow and winding cobblestone streets have a quaint, photogenic charm, with old-fashioned streetlamps and wooden lattice windows hiding elegant restaurants and craft galleries. Around each bend is a traditional house, museum, art gallery, craft shop, historic Samurai residence, and even a Geisha Kanazawa Castle house to explore. The fascinating open-air market displays a vast variety of items, from flowers to fish and local handicrafts. Next to the Kanazawa Castle ruins is one of Japan’s premier highlights, the famed Kenroku-en Garden, ranked among the country’s top three gardens.

Disembark this morning after breakfast, there will be a complimentary coach to a central hotel or to the Komatsu Airport. To allow time for disembarkation procedures and travel from Komatsu, booking flights departing before 1300 hours is not recommended.