Onomichi – City of Temples and Doorway to Shimanami Kaido

We stayed in Onomichi on our way to Shimanami Kaido, the highway which connects Japan’s main island of Honshu to the island of Shikoku, passing over six small islands in the Seto Inland Sea. Onomichi is a charming hilly port city by the Seto Inland Sea.

We were traveling during early July 2018 in the middle of the historic rainfall of western Japan. Departing Okunoshima (read our story about Rabbit Island Okunoshima), we headed to Onomichi. Because of the heavy rain, the Sanyo Kure Line and other local transportation were all suspended around Tadanoumi Port. We were really lucky that a very kind Japanese couple, who had also visited Rabbit Island at the same time we did, invited us to ride with them to Onomichi. I think people who like rabbits are kind. 🐰

I learned something about Japan that is truly eye-opening on the way to Onomichi. The traffic controller told us that the road ahead (about a couple miles ahead) was blocked because of the landslides. The road wouldn’t be ready until a couple hours later. All the cars were just lining up starting from where the controller was and waiting patiently until a couple hours later, not even a minute early.

We saw several occasions like this along the way. Some drivers were even just sleeping in their cars right in the middle of the road, since they knew when the road would be reconnected. Everyone else, who didn’t decide to take a nap, was waiting patiently. Very impressive!

Arrving Onomichi and saying goodbye to the kindest couple that we met on Rabbit Island, we checked into our hotel, Greenhill Hotel. We were told by the hotel staff that the water supply of the city was cut-off because of the heavy rain. They had some water stored in the hotel, and hoped that we could help to save some water, since they didn’t know when the water supply would be restored. It was sad for me to see an emergency situation like this. Of course, I would like to help. I tried to reuse the water stored in the bathtub as much as I could.

We spent some time walking around Onomichi. There is a nice covered shopping street in Onomichi. I didn’t see many people on the street and most of the shops were closed. I’m not sure if this was because it was during the weekend, or it was impacted by the heavy rainfall, or a combination of both. I heard Onomichi’s ramen noodles are really good. However, we only saw one ramen restaurant open and we were all too tired to feel like eating at all that evening.

Onomichi is famous for its “temple walk”. There are many old temples in the city. We were planning to visit these old temples originally. However, we arrived in Onomichi later than originally planned (but I’m glad that we arrived!), so we only walked to a few of them. None of the temples were open. Again, I’m not sure if this was because of the time of the day or because of the heavy rainfall.

There are many narrow stone paths on the hill side of the city. Walking on these paths between old fashioned Japanese buildings made me feel that I was in some kind of Japanese movie scene. I learned that Onomichi frequently shows up in Japanese motion pictures. The only one I have watched is “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”.

When we hiked up to Senkoji Temple (Senkō-ji), the clouds were dark again. The view of Seto Inland Sea from Senkoji was beautiful, even when the sky was dark. I saw the Onomichi coastline, the beginning of Shimanami Kaido, and Mukoujima Island.

Walking back down the hill, we saw many statues along the shore. I learned that Onomichi has been a gathering place for Japanese artists and writers. Many art works were inspired by the beauty of Onomichi. Among those, Fumiko Hayashi, an influential Japanese novelist and poet, went to high school in Onomichi. A statue along the shore was dedicated to her work.

Onomichi is a charming city. Due to our schedule and a natural disaster emergency, it was too bad that I saw very little of Onomichi. I sincerely hope that Onomichi and the surrounding area will recover soon after the disaster. I’m definitely planning for another trip back to Onomichi!

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