Tomonoura

It is part of Setonaikai National Park; the first designated National Park in Japan. Tomonoura is located in near the middle of the Seto Inland Sea in a place where the flow of the tides changes. Tomonoura has long prospered as a port town and preserves its Edo period townscape.

Kaiganzan Senjyuin Fukuzenji Temple is a Shingon Buddhist temple that is said to have been built around the year 950, back in the Heian period. Taichoro is a reception hall next to the main temple, said to have been built in 1690 in the Edo period. It is the perfect location to look out upon the dazzling scenery of Sensujima and other islands. Highly ranking Korean envoys stayed here, and one of them called it “the best scenery in Japan,” and named it Taichoro. The view from the palace is exceptional.

Homeishu liqueur blends in herbs and is a specialty of Tomonoura. This Japanese liqueur is made with glutinous rice and malted rice.

Sea bream net-fishing is a fishing technique passed down for around 380 years. Sea breams spend the winter out in the open seas, and come to the bay of Tomonoura to lay eggs in early spring. In May every year, you can watch a net-fishing technique whereby fishermen wait for a school of fish and catch them all with one net. This technique was devised in the early Edo period.