Kôchi City 高知市

Shikoku

Kôchi, the economic, cultural and transport centre and administrative seat of the prefecture of the same name, with more then 320,000 inhabitants, is located on the often typhoon-threatened southern coast of Shikoku, at the mouth of the Kagami River to the Pacific Ocean. Kôchi was officially declared a place of exile in the early 8th century and has been a castle town – Kôchi castle –  since 1600. The town’s most famous son is SAKAMOTO Ryôma (1836-67), a samurai who contributed significantly to the beginning of the reorganisation of the country = Meiji period (1868-1912). His bronze statue is located on the worth seeing beach of Katsurahama, just south of Kôchi City.