Kisarazu

Mildly famous for a nursery rhyme called "Shojoji no Tanukibayashi", about a raccoon dog (tanuki) whose statue can be found in the temple.

There is a mountain park called "Odayama", also called "love forest". The main tower, called “Kimisarazu Tower”, is on the top of the mountain park. You can see the big statue of a couple on a ship, based on a tragic love story. Once, there was a man named Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto and his wife Oto-tachibana-hime. One day, Yamato-takeru-no-mikoto was trying to cross the sea to go to Kazusa-no-kuni (Chiba). However, the sea was very stormy and his wife thought that it an anger of the Sea God, so she threw herself into the sea to soothe the anger. After he could get to Kimisarazu, he left one poem for his wife: "Kimisarazu Sodeshi-ga-ura ni tatsunami no Sono omokage wo miruzo kanashiki". It means “I could get here, but when I see the sea from here, it reminds me of you. I can’t leave here because I miss you so much.” The poem is the origin of the city name.

You can go shellfish gathering on the seaside, which is called ‘kisarazu kaigan′. The best occasions is to in the middle of March for in the end of August.