Zentsūji, Kagawa

Zentsūji, Kagawa

Zentsūji (善通寺市, Zentsūji-shi) is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on March 31, 1954.

As of June 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 34,114, with 13,079 households and a population density of 855.42 persons per km². The total area is 39.88& km².

The city is the place where Kūkai (also known as Kōbō Daishi) was born. The origin of the city name is Zentsū-ji Buddhist temple. The Zentsūji Temple, from which the town gets its name, is the 75th temple on the 88-temple Shikoku Pilgrimage. It is also one of the three temples on the tour, that Kūkai visited, the others being Tairyūji and Muroto Misaki, as Kūkai mentioned them by name in his writings.

Zentsūji is also home to Shikoku Gakuin University.

Farmers of the Zentsūji region found a way to grow cubic watermelons, by growing the fruits in glass boxes and letting them naturally assume the shape of the receptacle. The square shape is designed to make the melons easier to stack and store, but the square watermelons are often more than double the price of normal ones. Pyramid shaped watermelons have also been developed.