The Inland Sea is a long narrow body of water between the main Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku. Really just a little cubby-hole of the Pacific Ocean, it stretches 440 kilometers from east to west, but is only 55 kilometers at its broadest point. The Japanese name is Seto-Nai-Kai, () which means 'the sea between straits'.

There are over 700 islands, large and small, in the Inland Sea, many of which are uninhabited, barely accessible, or at least seldom visited. Along its northern shore, on Honshu, are the old cities of Okayama and nearby Kurashiki, and farther west, Hiroshima. There are several interesting areas to visit along this coast, and the more adventurous can strike out to some of the islands.

This coast has long been populated and is not as wild or forested as the Japan Sea coast, but the Inland Sea and its islands provide a lovely backdrop. Okayama is the gateway to many of these spots, and is a main stop on the bullet train. Because of the fast bullet trains to Okayama, Kurashiki, and Hiroshima, you can make week-end excursions to these places from the Kyoto - Osaka - Kobe area. A more leisurely trip with a flexible schedule could pleasantly include several of them.

Inland Sea Ferries

If you are heading to Kyushu or Shikoku islands, one of the nicest ways to get there is to take a large ferry from Kobe or Osaka through the Inland Sea. Longer trips -- to Oita, Beppu, Kita-Kyushu (Kokura), or Matsuyama -- take overnight and you can enjoy morning and evening views of the sea as you get there. Second class accommodation is cheaper than taking the bullet train, and you get blankets and a pillow to stretch out in a huge tatami room with dozens of other people. If it's crowded, you may not get much sleep, but you'll meet a lot of interesting rural and working-class people and students. These are large ships with restaurants, bars, and some even have a Japanese bath. Kansai Kisen is the main ferry company, and you can get information and tickets from any JTB travel agency. The Kobe ferry terminal is a short taxi ride from downtown. In Osaka, you have to get out to Benten-cho station and then walk a little ways.

All the ferry schedules around the country are in the National Timetable (Ji-Koku-Hyo), but most non-Japanese people can't decifer that.  I can no longer find a web site with good Japan ferry information, so I put something together myself, to illustrate what long-distance ferry travel is like in Japan.  Click Here to see a page of information I created on some of the ferries in the Inland Sea.

Shiwaku Shoto (Islands)   

The Shiwaku Island Group, near Okayama, is one of many small collections of islands in the Inland Sea.  Shiwaku is just a name on a chart; the islands are known by their individual names. I have visited the main island, which is called Hon-jima ("Main Island"), and Mukkuchi-jima ("Six-Mouthfuls Island"; or sometimes translated as "Six Inlets"). The islands actually belong to Ehime Prefecture, on Shikoku Island, but are best visited from Okayama.  It is unlikely that you will find these islands mentioned in any English-language guide book, that's your tip that they are relatively unspoiled getaways!

These places are not really spectacular, although there is some very nice natural scenery. What can make them interesting is their situation in the midst of the Inland Sea, and the leisurely pace of little island villages, far, far from the madding crowds. In the summer holidays, they can (like everywhere else) be easily overrun with tourists and school kids, but in the off-season the few tourists are mostly sport-fishermen. See Donald Richie's personal travelogue, "The Inland Sea", for a more intimate view of island life in the Inland Sea.  (It's now in a new paperback from Stone Bridge Press, 2002, ISBN #1880656698. The original hardback, 1971, is now out of print, and I gave mine away!)   PBS-TV now has a nice web site concerning their film of Richie's book!)

I once wrote an article about traveling to these islands (see "Six Mouthfuls and Tired of Salt" on my Travel Articles Page), and I ended up doing quite a bit of historical research. I'm going to share some of that information with you and perhaps it will make them a little more interesting. But as I said, the main attractions here are the quiet island setting and atmosphere, not any individual sights.

Getting there:

Getting to the Shiwaku Islands can be an adventure in itself. Take the bullet train to Okayama, just one hour from Osaka, or four from Tokyo. From Okayama, get the red Shimo-den (bus company's) Kojima-Washuzan (  - ) bus south to Kojima station (); it leaves from in front of the Takashimaya department store, across the street from the main entrance to Okayama station. At Kojima you catch the very funky little Shimo-den train across the hills to Shimotsui (), a small fishing town on the coast. (Last I was there, this little train was painted inside and out with murals designed by school children.) This train passes by Washu-zan on the way (see below). You can also get to Shimotsui, or at least Kojima, by bus from Kurashiki; this makes a nice circular trip.  [Picture (clickable): Shimo-den train to Shimotsui]

[This information may be obsolete, see below...]
From Shimotsui, regular Kansai Steamship car ferry services leave for Marugame (), on Shikoku Island, stopping only at Hon-Jima (Island). Not every ferry stops at Hon-jima, so check the schedule; there should be one about every 75 minutes. It is only 20 minutes to Hon-jima, and another 40 minutes on to Marugame.

Update 2002:  I can no longer find ferry information from Shimotsui to Hon-Jima. It appears that since the Seto Bridge now connects Shikoku Island by highway, there is no direct ferry from Shimotsui to Marugame. The Hon-jima ferry now runs from Kojima to Hon-jima and only runs four times a day:  06:25, 09:30, 15:55, and 18:30, taking 20 minutes and turning around for the return to Kojima. I believe this is a passenger-only ferry.

There are seven ferries a day from Marugame (on Shikoku) to Hon-jima, at 06:10, 07:40, 10:10, 12:10, 15:30, 18:00 and 20:00, taking 35 minutes. All but the 12:10 and 20:00 take cars. The last boat back to Marugame is at 19:30 -- or 18:50 for cars.

In the off-season, Mukkuchi-jima is only reached by hiring a private boat at the docks near the ferry in Shimotsui. In mid-summer there are a few excursion boats to Mukkuchi from Shimotsui; it takes less than fifteen minutes.

Hon-Jima   

Hon-jima Island is not large and can be covered on foot, but you can also rent bicycles, and nowdays motorbikes, near the ferry. You can walk to just about anywhere on the island in an hour or so, but a bicycle is handy if you plan to see the whole island. There are no buses and almost no traffic on the few roads that reach most of the island, but do not completely circumnavigate it.  Update 9/2006:  A bus now runs around Hon-Jima Island, leaving the port town just six times a day and taking several different routes.  If you have a ferry ticket, you can get all All-Day bus pass ("ichi-nichi kippu") on the bus for ¥500. (Regular ¥200 per ride).  This is the Current Bus Schedule, in Japanese! With a little time, you could match up the characters in the schedule with those on the map below.

To see:

There are five small Buddhist temples and four Shinto shrines on the island, plus the imposingly modern sanctuary hall of the Tenri-kyo sect. A thorough inventory of public buildings need only add two cinder-block school houses, the old Shogunate offices, and the new branch office for the city of Marugame. These are all in the main town, which seems to have no particular name except Hon-jima -- but it is officially called "Tomari"; this is the port where all the ferries arrive. You can wonder around the old Shogunate offices, which have been converted to a modest museum, but only if you find someone to let you in. Also in town is a cemetery with the grave stones of "famous people" of the islands.

Other than that, the sights are the pleasantly forested hills, rocky coastline, an occasional sand beach, and several small fishing villages. Just get a map at the local government office, follow your nose, and turn back when it starts getting dark.

East of the main town, you can walk up to the Hachiman shrine, and back down to Toko-ji temple and out to Kameyama point. Along the way you get a good view of the large salt beds, a major source of income for the islanders. Heading north from Kameyama, you come to Shin-zaika and farther on Kasashima village, with oyster beds in its harbor. From here you can walk up Tomiyama hill, which is also served by a road from the south. Beyond this you can head down to the northern shore of the island to a couple of other small villages. We spent the night here (surreptitiously) in a wayside shrine, and enjoyed the evening view out across the sea as the last of the fishing boats returned.

The most isolated village is probably Fukuda, on the western shore, and the road there was all sand and dirt, passing a small shop at Oura Cove. South of Fukuda the road ends at a long stretch of empty sand beach. On our way back from the beach in the afternoon, the town had sprung to life with the return of the fishing boats, and the sea wall was alive with the local people unloading and cleaning fish and mending nets.

Staying:

Back in 1974 when I first visited, only the large Kokumin Shukusha was open in June (still the off-season). It is just to the left of the village as you leave the dock. They have a nice bath, recreation room, and also rent bicycles. The price is about the same as a nicer minshuku. A few houses in the villages had minshuku signs, but they were only open in July and August. Ten years later, things didn't seem to have changed too much; there is now a ryokan not far from the dock, but it was also closed. By now there may be some other lodgings open all year, but probably not in the smaller villages; the Kokumin Shukusha is probably your best bet (local telephone: "#27).

History:

During the Sengoku period, while the entire country was in the grip of civil war, these islands were the home of the Shiwaku Armada, a fleet of pirates who held sway over the islands between the straits from their headquarters on Hon-jima.

Despite their isolation, the Japanese were never great seafarers, rarely venturing beyond sight of land. These pirates however, ensconced in their island strongholds, were among the most experienced sailors. In 1586 they were recruited by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to sail for Kyushu in his efforts to subjugate the mighty Shimazu Clan, and they later joined unsuccessful attacks on the Korean coast. As a reward, the pirates were pardoned and granted retainers, as well as official title to the Shiwaku Islands. So these were the first "famous people" of the islands.

Mukkuchi-Jima   

Mukkuchi is a long and narrow island that can be seen from the northern shore of Hon-jima, as well as from Shimotsui on the 'mainland'. The main, eastern part is one long forested mountain ridge, and is separated from the smaller western hill by a sandy hollow. If the sea were much higher, it would be two "cat and mouse" islands. On the south side of the western hill is a fair-sized sand beach with a couple of simple inns. Mukkuchi literally means "six mouths", or "six mouthfuls".

Very few people live here, but there are a couple of abandoned old farm houses near the hollow, and when I first visited there was an old woman living in one of them. Along with her onions and sweet potatoes, she was growing the special jochu-giku chrysanthemums that were once the mainstay of the tiny island economy. The jochugiku chrysanthemum is the natural source of pyrethrum, a natural insect repellent still used in making mosquito coils. The rest of her family had immigrated to the mainland of Japan to escape the desolation.

There are no roads, no cars, and no souvenir stands. The only transportation is by a dirt path that circles the island. It runs along the shore of the northern part, then across the hollow to the south side, where it turns back and through the forest along the southern slopes of the island, crossing over again to the northern path near the west end. This circular walk is about six kilometers. Small boats land at a small dock on the north side, at the beach, or at another jetty on the south side of the island; otherwise, the coast is too rocky.

To see:

Just walk around the island, it only takes a couple of hours if you go too fast. Near the southern beach is a modern stone pagoda, commemorating a 12th century sea battle than took place near here. Just beyond it, the Elephant Rock (photo left) rises about 15 feet out of the shore, washed smooth by the sea into a close resemblance to the head and body of an elephant. From near the elephant, the path leads steeply up to the brink of the southern cliffs, then winds through dense forest along the south side of the island. You can also walk along the narrow beach below the cliffs, revealing a few sheltered coves with little white sand beaches that are always deserted. But you cannot normally walk all the way along this shore, and eventually you will have to turn back.

Back on the main trail above the cliffs, you come to the Koshi-so ryokan in a clearing up on the slopes about half-way down the island. Here you can stop for a cool drink in the pleasant grounds. The path continues to the end of the island where it turns back to the northern shore. Near this turn is a little-used and stony path leading up to the top of the mountain. At 300 feet, the trees give way to a stone outcropping, affording a fine view out across the Inland Sea to the south and east. As always, you can see numerous islands big and small, near and far, clear and hazy, as well as a few boats passing among them.

Staying:

When you make a reservation at one of the few inns on the island, they usually make arrangements (in the off-season) for a boat to take you out and bring you back the next day. The charge goes on your bill, and is not as much as just hiring a boat out on your own. They will drop you off and pick you up at any place you want; so you can be met at the dock on the opposite side of the island if you want to walk over there.

There are a couple of simple minshukus along the beach on the southwest end of the island. This is where tourists come in the summer to swim in the sea, and a few stay over. But there is one very nice inn on Mukkuchi-jima, the Koshi-so ryokan, run by a nice woman whose family once lived in Singapore. There are several small buildings nestled among the pines up on a slope facing south near the middle of the island. It has a fine view, and the inn and its garden are quite nice. (tel (0864)-79-9093 -- I'm not sure about this number, so have someone look it up in a guide book.) They have their own boat jetty down below the cliffs.

This little inn gets filled up when a few fishermen come for the weekend, so it's best to call for reservations. The second time I visited the islands, in 1984, we spent the night on Mukkuchi. When we called from Shimotsui, the Koshi-so was full, and they gave us the number of one of the two or three minshukus down on the beach. We stayed in a quite basic place there.

History:

The following is a story told to me by a local man we found working in his garden. After asking directions, I asked him how the island got its name. "Well," he said slowly, "do you have some time?" And this is the abbreviated version of the tale he told, accompanied by great gestures and pantomime.

Over 250 years ago, at the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, this island belonged to the feudal lord Ikeda of Okayama Castle. Times were generally peaceful, but local power struggles still occurred between neighboring clans. Lord Ikeda sent his horsemen to this little island to train for battles on the shore. All day long the men worked with their horses, running on the beach in full battle armor, and swimming in the bay that now spread out before us.

At the end of each long day, they led their horses through the hollow to their camp on the north side. But all that awaited them for supper were large caldrons of rice and a few onions and pickles. In the bay, however, fish were bountiful, and the soldiers soon took to fishing in the midst of their training. They kept a fire blazing on the beach and all day the warriors feasted on large broiled fish between their workouts in the sea.

So when night fell and they returned wearily to camp, they had little taste for their rice and pickles. But just to make a good showing, they would dig into their rice bowls and shovel down one, two, three, four, five, six mouthfuls, and then "No more! I'm full!"

One evening, Lord Ikeda himself arrived to review his troops. His first impression was of his weary warriors eating only six mouthfuls of rice, and he was concerned for their lack of appetite. In honor of the lord's visit, it was decided that the island should have a name. Ikeda himself proposed the name of Mukkuchi ("Six Mouthfuls"), since no one seems to take more than six mouthfuls of his food here.

The tale is simple, and probably only one of many once told to explain the island's name, but sadly almost all the story-tellers are gone.

Washu-zan   

Washu-zan is a pine-covered rocky promontory on the tip of Kojima Point, with a deservedly famous view of the Inland Sea. It used to be a very solitary and isolated point with just a Youth Hostel as the only building. I stayed there once and it was quite beautiful and quiet. It is still promoted as a beautiful spot, but the huge new highway and railway bridge from Honshu to Shikoku passes very close by, and I wonder what effects it has had. In any case, the woods are still there and you can enjoy the walk up to the promontory, about half an hour from the Washu-zan station on the little Shimo-den train from Kojima to Shimotsui. There are also buses from Okayama, Kurashiki, and Kojima. (See Getting There, above.)

Ushimado and the Eigei-Kai   

Eigei-Kai (ay-gay-kai) means Aegean Sea, and this quiet little area near Okayama is (minimally) promoted as "the Japanese Aegean", because of the olive groves here beside the Inland Sea. Since it really is not particularly spectacular, it remains quiet most of the year, but has several lodgings, pleasant countryside, and nice views out to islands of the Inland Sea.

Ushimado (ushi-mado, which cryptically means "cow-window") is a fishing and farming town on the coast, backed by hills of olive groves. A small "tourist attraction" has been created in the "Olive Garden", a modest tourist center building with a few exhibits.

From Ushimado, you can take boat excursions around the area to no place in particular. There isn't much else to do but relax and wander around. This may not be a great holiday spot, but it is a little-known and pleasant enough place to stop and relax (a getaway!), especially if you're already in the Okayama area.

Getting there:

Get to Okayama city, most likely on the bullet train (over an hour west from Osaka). From Okayama station, take the bus to "Saidai-ji and Ushimado", an hour or so to Ushimado.  Saidai-ji is a large and famous temple between Okayama and the coast at Ushimado. Founded in 777 AD, it is noted, among other things, for its esoteric Eyo Festival in February, commonly known as the Hadaka Matsuri, or "Naked Festival" (photo left, clickable).

Alternatively, you can take the little (Aka-Ho?) train line out of Okayama station (its terminus) a half hour to Oku station (just after Saidai-ji station), then catch the Ushimado bus from there another 20 minutes to Ushimado town.

By car, take the Han-Shin Expressway (toll) to Himeji, and get off on route 2. Continue one hour to Bizen (Bizen-cho), where you join the Okayama Blue Highway (toll). Go another 15 minutes and get off at the Oku interchange, then drive 10 kilometers to Ushimado; from there you can turn up the hill to the Olive Garden Entrance.

Staying:

There are several small lodgings in Ushimado, and a couple of pensions in even quieter spots in the nearby hills. We stayed at the Pension Ushimado (photo left, clickable), up the hill by the Olive Garden. It is a small one-story wooden house in western style, with all wood furnishings. It's run by a couple who speak reasonable English and French, and provide a nice western dinner. There are good views out over the hills to the sea.

Pension Ushimado  (Kohata family)
Okayama-ken,
Oku-gun
Ushimado-cho,
Ushimado 380 Japan 701-43
Tel. (086934) 5511
    ________________

From Ushimado town, the bus may head up the hill to the "Oribu Koen Iriguchi" (Olive Garden Entrance), or you may have to walk it. From there you walk up toward the Garden, and take the first road to the left and walk several hundred yards to the pension. The walk is about 20 minutes, but if you call from Okayama, they might come and pick you up in their van.

Okayama City   

Oka-yama is a good-sized city that is not particularly interesting to stay in, especially given the number of more interesting destinations within an hour or two. But it is the place you pass through and there are a couple of sights worth visiting if you have a little time.

The Koraku-en Garden is one of the most famous landscape gardens in Japan, built in 1700. It covers several acres and is reached in five minutes by bus from Okayama station. Okayama Castle, just east of the Koraku-en has a colorful history, dating from the 16th century. The current version was reconstructed in 1966, and has nice displays and a museum.

Okayama is also noted as the home of Bizen-yaki porcelain ware, but the real pottery center is in Bizen-cho, 45 minutes by regular train back east from Okayama. Bizen is the early name of this geographical area.

Kurashiki   

Kurashiki (ku-RAsh'ki) is another good-sized city, but it is much more interesting to visit than Okayama and well worth an overnight stay when you are in the area. It is 30 minutes by train farther west from Okayama city, and is a stop on the Kodama bullet trains. You can get to Kojima and Shimotsui, on the coast, just as easily from Kurashiki as from Okayama.

While it is now an industrial center, the old quarters of Kurashiki have been preserved into a very pleasant district along quiet canals lined with willow trees and old stone warehouses restored and converted into museums, shops, and inns. (photo left). The atmosphere is very nice, and all the main sights are close together, only three minutes by bus from the station.

The Kurashiki Folk Art Museum is one the earliest (1949) such museums founded in Japan. Occupying a couple of old renovated rice storehouses (kura), the museum has very good displays of authentic old Japanese folk crafts, most of them collected by the founder, Kichinosuke Tonomura, who was still there to show them off when I visited. He is quite an interesting character. If you only see one Folk Art Museum in Japan, this is the one to see. (There is a small one in Tokyo near the Komaba Todai-mae stop on the Inokashira rail line.)

Very nearby is the Ohara Art Gallery, a private museum created in 1931, with a good collection of western masters. There is also a toy museum, a history museum and an archeology museum in the area. You can spend much of a day poking around here, and staying at one of the several inns in this district can be very pleasant. Ask at the lodging referral office at the station.

Since 1997, Kurashiki also has a new theme park called Tivoli which is patterned after Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen (gardens, lake, rides, and entertainment), and is apparently associated with the original. It sits on a large area just behind the main railway station. I have not been there, but the ¥2,000 entry seems reasonable.

Hiroshima / Miyajima      --  

Hiroshima and nearby Miya-jima are certainly far from unknown, and not at all difficult to find out about. But most foreign tourists don't come here unless they are specifically interested in the atom bomb memorial. I certainly wouldn't call this a "getaway", but I just want to give you my brief overview of what you can see here, should you consider making the trip.

Hiroshima (hiROsh'ma), of course, was flattened by the atomic bomb attack in 1945, and the only interesting historical remnant is the standing shell of the former Industry Promotion Hall at ground-zero, which is now called the A-Bomb Dome. The main attraction is the nearby Peace Memorial Park, a large and pleasant park along the Temma River, where you find the Peace Memorial Museum. No matter where you come from, it is a moving experience to see the real effects of atomic weapons used against a populated area. The feeling they would like you to leave with is not what a horrible thing was done to them, but simply that it should never happen again to anyone. Also in the park are some monuments, fountains, shrines, and pleasant walks in the woods. It is a twelve minute bus ride from the station.  [Picture (clickable): 'A-bomb Dome', Hiroshima]

Hiroshima has (at least) three other sights worth seeing if you are in town. The Shukkei-en is a large rambling traditional Japanese garden just a 10-15 minute walk from the station. Originally laid out in the 17th century, it has been more recently reconstructed. Hiroshima Castle was reconstructed on the original site in 1958, and is quite well done, in forested surroundings. Right across the street is the Hiroshima Art Museum, with an impressive display of originals by famous western masters.

The castle is a ten minute bus ride from the station, but you can also walk over from the Peace Park in ten or fifteen minutes. Hiroshima is the next main stop after Okayama on the bullet train; pick up a good map in English at the station. I once had a rail pass and visited Hiroshima and Miyajima on a day trip from Kobe.

Miyajima (Island) is one the three official Most Scenic Spots in Japan, and is suitably well-touristed. It is also quite interesting and can be very pleasant at off-peak times. It is just half an hour from Hiroshima and should not be missed if you are there. The "real" name of the island is Itsukushima ("Divine Island"); Miyajima means "Shrine Island" for the famous shrine found there, called Itsukushima Shrine. The island is over 12 square miles (30 sq. km) and is a heavily wooded little mountain, with several nice trails.

But the main attraction is the shrine, which is built on pilings out over the water. It dates back well before reliable history and was rebuilt in its current form in the 12th century. The shrine embodies the worship of its beautiful natural surroundings, and its famous huge red torii gate (seen in many Japanese tourist promotions) stands out in the waters offshore.  (Image left, clickable).  Still, at low tide, you can sometimes walk out to it. There is an ancient Noh theater stage connected to the shrine, as well as two other stages used for ritual court dances; they all project out over the sea. The various shrine buildings are lovely and worth visiting.

Tame deer roam the island, and there are a number of easy walks through woods, or all the way up the mountain, Mt. Misen. There is also a rope-way to the top, befitting a real Japanese tourist attraction. If you get off the boat with two thousand other tourists, it can quickly lose its charm, but on a reasonably calm day you can easily enjoy several hours on the island. This is one of the many places in Japan that can be wonderful if you just visit when not many other people want to.

There is a little tram line that leaves from in front of Hiroshima Station and rambles through town, all the way out to Miyajima-guchi, where you catch the frequent boats, ten minutes out to the island. (Make sure you get on the Miyajima Tram, another one goes to the port.) You can also get there by JR rail line, but the tram is a lot more interesting. On the island are several pricier ryokans. You can also find inns and a Youth Hostel around Miyajima-Guchi, and there is a well-recommended (and well-booked) Youth Hostel in Hiroshima, or ask at the information center in Hiroshima Station.

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