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Setonaikai NP, Kagawa
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The center exhibits sanukite, a volcanic rock that rings like a bell when struck. Musical-quality stone comes from only a small area near Kokubudai; a German geologist named it in 1891 after Sanuki.
A hare’s pellets on the center’s trails are the second round: it re-eats its first droppings to reclaim nutrients, leaving behind the drier, spent pellets visitors may find in the meadow.
A shared tanuki latrine may work like a forest message board: guides say the animals are thought to exchange information there. Persimmon, ginkgo and akebi seeds in the droppings reveal their varied menu.
Around Goshikidai, 68 of Kagawa’s 140 recorded land-snail species have been found—nearly half the prefectural total. The richest pockets are damp, sheltered places; 39 species were recorded near Chigoga Falls.
At a Goshikidai insect workshop, participants learned about forest cockroaches hatching from an egg capsule: newborns are translucent, so their green insides and black eyes show through.
A local-history talk at the visitor center explored nearby Negoroji’s cow-ogre legend. In the temple’s tradition, an archer slew the beast on Aomine and gave its horn to the temple, where it is said to remain.
Rain didn’t stop a nature class at the center: visitors made whistles from Japanese knotweed stems and played sumo with violet flowers. The guide described these as traditional plant-based games.
On a center-led winter walk, guides found white rub marks on a tree’s board-like roots. They explained that wild boars rub there after wallowing nearby, scraping their bodies against the roots.
