Onomichi (Hiroshima Prefecture)

Travel Reports by FancyLampshade

Note: The opinions and views expressed in this user report are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of japan-guide.com.

June 27, 2016 - Onomichi (Hiroshima Prefecture)

I arrived to Onomichi the afternoon of the day before, after visiting Kurashiki, so the first few photos aren't really from the walk itself, rather me making my way to the hostel.

Soon after exiting Onomichi Station I was met by a castle, Onomichi-jo. Onomichi Castle was built in the late 1900s as a tourist attraction, it has no historical relevance whatsoever, but it still looked pretty perched at the top of the hill. Now, however, it is abandoned and entrance is not permitted. I was looking for the statue of Fumiko Hayashi, a writer, and she happened to be covered in pink and blue hydrangeas. The shopping street was covered with Tanabata decorations hanging from the ceiling all the way from start to end, and as I had never seen any before I was very excited to look at the children�fs drawings and the wishes hanging from the bamboo trees.

Onomichi is a small city next to the Seto Inland Sea. A chain of islands connects Onomichi to Imabari City on Shikoku Island, the smallest of the four main islands of Japan, and the cycling path passing over these islands along with the bridges connecting them is Onomichi�fs most popular feature (called the Shimanami Kaido). Unfortunately I had to take out this activity from my plan since I do not have the physical strength required to do it all in one day and preferred to spend my time elsewhere this time around, but it is definitely something I would like to do at some point.

Eating at an outdoor table next to Onomichi Port

During the rest of the afternoon I decided to take it easy and went out for a walk along the road next to the sea. I tasted Onomichi ramen, Onomichi�fs speciality, at a cute family restaurant near my hostel; unfortunately it was similar to my experience with Kurashiki�fs bukkake udon.

Today�fs topic is the temple walk of Onomichi. It is slightly embarrassing to say (or write, I guess) that I got lost before even reaching the first temple of the walk, but that�fs all on me for there was a sign pointing the way that I hadn�ft seen. I stopped at a bench outside the first temple, Jikoji, to have my breakfast. It was the first time I tried a macha swiss roll and instantly fell in love. I ate many of them during my trip, buying one every time I saw it in a konbini.

Jikoji Temple had many hydrangeas that would�fve looked beautiful earlier in June, but they were mostly wilted by the time I went there. There were quite a few other flowers to make up for it. A mother carrying her crying and struggling daughter to school passed by, determined to get her to class in time.

The walk includes 25 temples and is a mix of slopes, stairs and turns as one passes through the residential streets. Some of the temples had their gates closed or were simply deserted but open, later I realised that this is probably because it was a Monday. I wasn�ft looking at my map and signs seemed to be non-existent, but there was a different temple around every corner so I just jumped from one temple to the next. Maybe I missed a couple.

What I remember the most from Onomichi, however, were the bugs. Wasps and bees reaching unimaginable sizes and buzzing way too close for comfort, insects of all colours that really just looked like a flash of red or blue or green as they flew past in a hurry, dozens of beautiful dragonflies, spiders hanging from every corner. The most memorable was the giant mukade I caught creeping along a wall; it was the length of my hand! I kept my distance since they are very venomous, it soon went through a window and into someone�fs back garden.

Finally reached Senko-ji! I liked the banners more than the view, so here's a photo of those.

After only four or five temples, steps began to dominate the walk. The first few were fine, but as I turned a corner only more steps appeared, and then more as I turned again, and more all the way to the top. Hiking Mt.Shosha was honestly easier than this, although it is mostly the heat�fs fault as well as that of the buzzes I kept hearing from insects flying past non-stop.

Another man was the only other person who hadn�ft taken the ropeway up to the observation point, and we exchanged �eganbatte�fs and �eatsui�fs every time one of us advanced the other.
Senko-ji seemed like a tourist hotspot even though the rest of the walk was empty. From here you can see the whole city stretch out below as well as the sea and Mukoujima Island right in front. If you�fve seen any photos of Onomichi, chances are this red temple is part of it. There were three different counters selling temple goods (lucky I learnt to read the sign telling me where to get a goshuin stamp to add to my collection), a group of ladies taking a rest on the benches, the ropeway that I saw pass by was crowded with people. The man that had also taken the steps leaned against the rail next to me as we both enjoyed the view of the city below. I deemed it unnecessary to go up even more to the observation platform since the views from the temple itself were already good enough.

Onomichi has been dubbed the city of cats, by the way. I saw only one along the walk though. Not counting this one.

The walk down was much more enjoyable, the streets became more narrow (which also meant less wasps) and I felt like I was seeing more of the daily life than during the first half.

My favourite of the route was by far Ushitora Shrine, two huge trees with moss on their big branches almost covered the whole grounds and gave me some much needed shade so I could have a bit of a rest.

I�fm going to nominate Taisan-ji as my second favourite, it had quite a few statues of �esee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil�f with a little twist: instead of covering their mouth (or eyes or ears) the monkeys were shouting. Not too sure what that is supposed to mean as I doubt the temple was dedicated to evil or anything similar, but it was amusing nonetheless.

Saikoku-ji is dedicated to tabi shoes and has six giant shoes hanging from the entrance gate as well as a row of hydrangea bushes leading to, you guessed it, more steps. Most of the temples were small and I don�ft know anything about their history. Honestly, I doubt I�fll even remember most of them a few years from now.

Once I considered I�fd seen enough temples, I headed back to my hostel to pick up my bag and head off to a different place for more sightseeing. The owners of the hostel were outside taking photos of their new bike and I was able to say goodbye and thank you to them in person.

The initial plan was to go to Takehara as I made my way to Hiroshima for the night, but Kure Line had been closed for a few days because of heavy rainfall (hard to believe, seeing how hot and sunny it was in Onomichi), so I moved Takehara to another day and decided to attempt another visit to Fukuyama Castle after missing out on it the day before. But I think I'll write about Fukuyama in a different post since I ended up going there twice, it would be best to have all the information in one place.

Just to say that I took the local train from Fukuyama, through Onomichi, on my way to sleep in Hiroshima afterwards and it turned out to be my favourite train ride of the trip. I read a description on japantravel.com by someone who said: �gRolling green hills and picturesque countryside scenes will have you wanting to stay on board the train until the sun goes down�h. That�fs definitely the best description I can think of. The view of the beautiful old houses interrupted by rice fields every now and then and lush green trees that stood tall with dignity covering the mountains all the way into the distance. I think that is what I love most about local trains, being able to see the landscape pass by slowly, the day-to-day life of the people getting on and off at every station. Many of the houses had shiny brown tiles that made them really stand out. I don�ft know if that�fs a characteristic special of this area or if it is also seen elsewhere, but I made a game of spotting as many as I could. I also saw kura storehouses similar to the ones in Kurashiki fly past, even kura with shiny brown tiles!

I caught a glimpse of the SkyBridge near Hiroshima Airport high up in the air as it started to rain. The rain only made the countryside look even more beautiful, it finally felt like I was there during rainy season.
After about two hours that went by very quickly, the countryside scenes were left behind and a city atmosphere took its place. I decided to start writing an email to my parents to fill in the time left to my destination, but soon the speakers announce the next station: Hiroshima! Just as I heard the name of the city I looked out the window again and the first thing I saw was the Peace Pagoda at the top of a hill north of Hiroshima.
As I got off the train and made my way outside I finally put good use to the umbrella I�fd bought at Sannomiya my first day, although I didn�ft need it much since there were only a few steps until the tram that took me all the way to Dobashi Station near my hostel. I had made it! Hiroshima was my absolute must-see for this trip and the rest of my itinerary was planned around my stay at this city. Finally the changing hostels every night had ended and I�fd be staying in Hiroshima for 6 nights in a row, no more ups and downs and forgetting my backpack. I was looking forward to getting to know the city in the days to come.

list all posts

List of Posts:
2016/06/29 - Hiroshima - Temple walk and Kagura
2016/06/28 - Hiroshima - Peace sites
2016/06/27 - Onomichi (Hiroshima Prefecture)
2016/06/26 - Kurashiki (Okayama Prefecture)
2016/06/25 - Bizen (Okayama Prefecture)
2016/06/25 - Mount Shosha (Engyoji Temple)