6 November 2023
Old temples and closed castles
Onomichi and Fukuyama day trip
Today I decided to utilise me Setouchi area pass train thing and ride some bullet trains.. and some normal trains. The pass incorporates the whole area between Kyoto and Nara, down to Fukuoka on Kyushu, and also the northern area of Shikoku and the ferries between. It is one of the lesser known passes, fortunately I purchased before the price rise when it was still good value. But alas, if you do not use it, it is a waste of money, so today I used it.
First I got on a bullet train, non reserved (never done that before) and rode 20 minutes to Mihara, a station actually built on top of the ruins of a castle. This seems a strange choice as it really limits your plans to re construct a fake castle and entice tourists to your town if there's a bullet train station perched on top of the castle wall.
From Mihara I changed to a local train and travelled 3 stops to Onomichi, a town wedged between graveyards and the sea, and the start of the famous Shimanami Kaido bike path across all the islands that I will not be doing. Instead I joined the 'route for old temples' which winds it's way along alleyways up and down the side of the hill past a sea of graveyards. If there is ever a landslide here, then the zombie apocalypse will be real.
After I was all templed out, I ignored the ropeway and walked up the hill to admire the view. I had seen it before on youtube from one of the gopro guys that just wanders around Japan saying nothing. Today it was grey so perhaps the actual view was not as good as if it were blue sky, but the clouds were pretty interesting.
Descending again, I found the Onomichi covered shopping street, a mix of completely run down and abandoned, and almost completely run down and abandoned.
It was time for a Lawson's sandwich and a bottle of water to contemplate my next move.
The next town over was Fukuyama, and almost like Mihara, there is a castle seemingly on top of the bullet train line, only this time the train just missed it and the fake castle still exists. So I boarded the Sanyo line and headed to Fukuyama and admired the closed on Monday's castle from the outside. It is iron clad on one side.
By now threatening clouds were rolling in, but still it never rained, so I boarded the Nozomi back to Hiroshima and was back in my hotel by 2pm.
So that is a day trip in the Hiroshima region of Japan that had no hiking at all. It is possible to do.
As I mentioned in the wall of text above, the Bullet train station at Mihara stops on top of the demolished castle. Right on the castle walls.
I had a few minutes to spare, so why not exit the station and cross the road to take a photo?
Onomichi station is not on the bullet train line, it is on the Sanyo line. A lot of trains coming from or going to Shikoku were cancelled due to heavy rain today.
There is Onomichi station, and the hill with the ropeway behind it, which I would soon climb up.
This is the official start point of the bike path across the many islands. The start is a boat ride.
On a grey day like today, Onomichi at sea level looks like some old rusty ship yards. Probably because that is what it is.
It was time to start the route for old temples. Here is a temple.
There are so many temples they had to knock one down for the ropeway station.
I think there are roughly 5000 grave stones for each inhabitant of this town. Seriously, everywhere was a graveyard. Ship building is a dangerous business.
Nice palm trees.
Time to climb the hill. It is really only about 10 minutes to the top on foot. Here is a view part way up, with a rock.
That is the local art museum, an impressive building, closed on Monday's.
I had the concrete ring of destiny to myself.
I ran up and down its full length a few times.
Here is the view towards Hiroshima. Nice clouds.
And the view in the other direction, towards Okayama I guess.
And across the inland sea. Those are mainly many small islands.
The path down goes through the main temple, Senkoji.
You can ring the bell if you want.
After descending, I wandered into the covered shopping street, and the main shop that actually sold anything other than wigs and second hand clogs was selling lemon cakes, and lemon cake related items. I did not have a lemon cake. Should have.
Here is the almost completely abandoned part of the shopping street. Some of the shops were actually being used as car parking spaces. The actual shops!
The other end of the rather long shopping street has a few shops selling clothes for old people, and right at the end, bike shops.
Right by Onomichi station is the local department store, Fukuya. It looks a bit old from the outside, but still had a bit going on inside it.
Next stop, Fukuyama. I first wandered away from the castle side of the station to look at the roses. The station signage proudly declared Fukuyama to be the city of roses.
But I guess it is all about the castle, so here is the castle.
The chrysanthemum festival is in full swing here. They had strict crowd control in place for the 5 of us looking at the flowers.
A bit more castle.
The inside of the castle was closed, it is a museum of sorts. It is a fake castle, so the inside is concrete and vending machines. However I could wander all around it, and the back is clad with iron. There was a sign explaining that it was clad with iron on one side, but not why it was clad with iron on one side.
After castle appreciation, it was time to ascend to the top of Fukuyama station and board the Nozomi Shinkansen back to Hiroshima, which is about a 25 minute ride, unreserved (there were plenty of seats). It is still not raining here.