chugokuhiroshima
Onomichi
Onomichi is an old port town on the Inland Sea in Hiroshima Prefecture, in the Chugoku region, about an hour from Hiroshima and twenty minutes from Fukuyama on the Shinkansen line, where a hillside of temples looks over a narrow channel to the islands.
- Prefecture
- Hiroshima
- Region
- Chugoku
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
A hillside of temples and stone lanes above a narrow strait of the Inland Sea.
Onomichi has been a port since the twelfth century, when it shipped the rice of an inland estate held by the retired emperors. Its merchants grew rich, and over the centuries they built temples on the steep hills behind the harbour, so that a small town of the Inland Sea came to hold some twenty-five temples in a few square kilometres, linked by narrow lanes and stone steps. From almost any of them you look down on the roofs of the town and the channel, little wider than a river, that separates it from the island of Mukaishima.
In the twentieth century the town drew writers and filmmakers. Shiga Naoya lived here for a time, the novelist Hayashi Fumiko grew up here, and Ozu Yasujiro filmed the opening of Tokyo Story in its streets in 1953. A path through the park of Senko-ji is set with stones carved with lines written about Onomichi.
Onomichi is also the start of the Shimanami Kaido, the road that crosses the Inland Sea to Imabari on Shikoku by a chain of islands and bridges, about sixty kilometres in all. On the islands are lemon groves, the temple of Kosan-ji, the museum of the painter Hirayama Ikuo and the shrine of Oyamazumi, and the drive across is one of the loveliest in Japan.
see and do
What to see in Onomichi
Senko-ji
A temple on the hill above the town, founded according to tradition in 806, its vermilion hall built out on the rocks with a view over the channel and the islands. A ropeway runs up to it from the town.
The Temple Walk
A path of about two and a half kilometres along the foot of the hills, joining twenty-five temples by stone lanes, steps, small gardens and glimpses of the sea between the roofs.
The Path of Literature
A path through Senkoji Park set with some twenty-five stones carved with words about Onomichi by writers and poets, among them Shiga Naoya and Hayashi Fumiko.
Jodo-ji
A temple by the sea founded in 616, according to tradition by Prince Shotoku, whose main hall of 1327 and two-storey pagoda are National Treasures, with a fine garden and teahouse.
Saikoku-ji
A temple on the hillside approached through a gate hung with giant straw sandals, offered by visitors in prayer for strong legs, with a three-storey pagoda above.
Kosan-ji, Ikuchijima
A temple built from 1936 by a businessman in memory of his mother, with copies of famous halls from all over Japan in brilliant colour, and above it the Hill of Hope, a garden of white Italian marble.
Hirayama Ikuo Museum of Art, Setoda
A museum on the island of Ikuchijima, the painter's birthplace, holding his paintings of the Silk Road and of the Inland Sea where he grew up.
Oyamazumi Shrine, Omishima
An ancient shrine to the god of the sea and the mountains, venerated by warriors, whose treasure house holds a great part of the armour designated as National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties in Japan.
Mukaishima
The island across the channel, reached by small ferries that cross in a few minutes from several points along the waterfront, with quiet lanes, old shipyards and a view back to the temples on the hill.
Tomonoura
Forty minutes east, an old port of the Inland Sea where ships waited for the tides, with a stone lantern on the harbour, old merchant houses and the view from the hall of Taichoro across the islands.
experiences
The best of Onomichi
The temples above the town
A slow walk from the ropeway down through the temples of the hillside, with a guide to the stories of each, and tea looking out over the channel.
Across the islands by car
The Shimanami Kaido by private car, crossing the bridges to Ikuchijima and Omishima for Kosan-ji, the lemon groves and the armour of Oyamazumi Shrine.
The fish of the Inland Sea
A dinner of sea bream, octopus and small fish from the channel, and a bowl of Onomichi ramen, a soy broth with pork back fat, in the evening streets.
An evening on the water
A small boat along the Onomichi channel and out among the islands as the lights of the town come on.
plan your visit
Onomichi on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- One night sees Onomichi and its temples; two let you cross the Shimanami Kaido with a night on an island or in Imabari.
- Getting there
- From Fukuyama, on the San'yo Shinkansen, by train in about twenty minutes; Fukuyama is about an hour from Shin-Osaka and about three and a half hours from Tokyo. From Hiroshima the journey takes about an hour and a quarter, and Hiroshima Airport is about forty minutes away by car.
- Pairs well with
- Onomichi lies between Hiroshima and Okayama, and the Shimanami Kaido carries a journey on across the Inland Sea to Imabari and Matsuyama on Shikoku.HiroshimaMiyajimaMatsuyama and ImabariKurashikiOkayamaNaoshima and the Seto Inland Sea
journeys
Onomichi on a private journey
We shape a journey to Onomichi as a Custom Tour of Japan: created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you.
questions
Onomichi: questions answered
Is Onomichi worth visiting?
Yes. Its hillside of temples above the Inland Sea is one of the most charming townscapes of western Japan, and it is the start of the Shimanami Kaido across the islands to Shikoku.
How do you get to Onomichi?
By Shinkansen to Fukuyama, then about twenty minutes by train; from Hiroshima the journey takes about an hour and a quarter.
What is the Shimanami Kaido?
A road of about sixty kilometres from Onomichi to Imabari on Shikoku, crossing six islands of the Inland Sea by a series of bridges, with temples, museums and lemon groves on the way.
How long do you need in Onomichi?
A day for the temples and the town, and two to include the islands of the Shimanami Kaido.
Can you visit Onomichi from Hiroshima?
Yes. It is about an hour and a quarter away, and makes a fine day from Hiroshima or a night on the way to Okayama or Shikoku.
Can Onomichi be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with a Tour Director beside you, and it can include Onomichi. For independent travel, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Onomichi, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Onomichi. We will answer with a journey shaped around it: one of our tours, a journey of The Private Collection, or a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone.