Tomonoura　鞆の浦

Address: Tomo, Tomocho, Fukuyama city, Hiroshima prefecture
Access: From the No. 5 bus stop at the south exit of Fukuyama Station, take the bus bound for “Tomo” or “Tomonoura” (about 30 minutes). 550 yen (as of 2022)
Fukuyama is about 1 hour from Osaka and about 30 minutes from Hiroshima by Shinkansen.

It seems that Tomonoura has been used as a port since quite ancient times, and there are records of its use as a port from around the 12th century.

The ocean currents in this area flow in from the east and west at high tide and collide just in the vicinity of Tomonoura. On the other hand, when the tide is low, the currents divide into east and west from here. In the old days, people used to sail along the coast, so waiting for the tide was important. The most suitable port for this was Tomonoura.
The people of the time period gradually and gradually built up the harbor through land reclamation and other means, and it took on its present form.

You can look inside an old merchant house and get a glimpse of how people lived in those days. It is said that people in the construction industry today sigh in awe because they can see beams cut out of a single tree, something that is impossible to find nowadays.

When you are surrounded by so many natural townscapes, you feel like this is normal. However, this is a historical landscape that miraculously remains because it was left behind in the development race. It is easy to forget that townscapes like this used to exist in Tokyo and Osaka as a matter of course.

A ferry connects the town with Onomichi 尾道, one of the most popular towns in Hiroshima Prefecture along with Tomonoura and other towns. It is nice to see the peaceful scenery of the Seto Inland Sea from the sea. It is also fun to compare it with the port city of Onomichi.

cf. https://www.city.fukuyama.hiroshima.jp/soshiki/kanko/85749.html
https://youtu.be/K0o-4Ek6stw