Shimonoseki (下関市) is a large city on the southern tip of the
main island of Honshū in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Until modern
times, the town was called Akamagaseki (赤間関/赤馬関) or Bakan (馬関)
for short. It was only officially renamed in 1902 as part of a
municipal reform. This referred to the strait between Honshū and
Kyūshū, which is now also known as the Kammon Strait.
During the naval battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185, the 6-year-old
Tennō Antoku was drowned here on the coast. This marks the
beginning of the rule of the Ashikaga shoguns, the so-called
Kamakura era.
Immediately after the first treaties with foreign powers were
concluded, the local daimyo tried to block the passage of
foreign ships, which is why the town was bombarded several times
in 1863. Of historical importance was the Treaty of Shimonoseki,
which ended the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, as a result of which
Formosa was ceded to Japan. This first victorious "modern" war
gave Japanese national consciousness a huge boost. Three western
powers joined forces in November 1895 to stop excessive Japanese
demands. This was done through the gunboat diplomacy that was
common at the time and took the form of bombarding the town.
Chōfu (長府) is a district on the Inland Sea that grew up
around the Kobe Steel factory. Chōfu Station (長府駅) is north of
the residential and commercial center, near the shipyard.
The island of Hikoshima (彦島) forms the southern end of
Shimonoseki. It is connected to the mainland by two bridges. Its
eastern part is an industrial area of Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries, and there is a shipyard at the western tip.
Shimonoseki is an industrial site (steel and chemicals) and an
important fishing port. Traditionally, this was the home port of
the Japanese whaling fleet, which resumed commercial fishing in
2019, although few Japanese are interested in the meat and sales
are sluggish.
The population has decreased by about a
third since 1984, which is mainly due to the decline in
shipbuilding.
Kaikyō Yume Tower (Kaikyō Yume Tower). A beautifully decorated
museum. Open from 9:30am–9:30pm. Price: ¥600.
Tanaka Kinuyo Cultural
Museum (Tanaka Kinuyo Cultural Museum)
In Chōfu
Chōfu Tourist
Information, 2 Chome-1-15 Chofu Samuraimachi. A complex of shops selling
Fugu products, also available in the restaurant. Open from 9am–6pm.
Museum der Stadtgeschichte Chōfu (Shimonoseki Municipal Chofu Museum),
2-27, Chofu Kawabata 2-chome, Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture
752-0979. Open from 9am–4:30pm, Mo Get it. Price: ¥200.
Shimonoseki
City Museum of Art, 1-1, Chofu Kuromon Higashimachi, Shimonoseki,
Yamaguchi 752-0986 (A park with a traditional Japanese garden and
traditional tea house). Opening hours: 9:00–16:30, closed.
Sekimidai
Park. A park with bricks on the grounds. A samurai burg and a large,
grotesque scenic spot in the shape of a wall from Beton.
Kakuonji, 3
Chome-3-8 Chōfuanyoji.
Boat Race, 1-1 Chofumatsuoda Higashimachi (Chōfu Station). Motorboat
racing is one of the few activities in Japan where you can bet for
money. Open: on race days from 2 p.m.
Sujigahama Beach (筋ヶ浜) is
narrow and pebbly.
Yoshimo Beach (吉母海水浴場) is coarse sand in a
bay. A good 1½ km from Yoshimi Station (吉見駅) on the San'in Line.
For transport connections to Kyushu, see the section on Fukuoka.
Tourist information desks are in the two main train stations and at
the port.
By plane
Kitakyushu Airport.
By train
Shin-Shimonoseki (新下関駅), 山口県下関市秋根南町一丁目11-1 (north of the city. Buses 43
(A-D), 44, 45). JR San’yō-Shinkansen from Tokyo usually with a change in
Shin-Osaka via Shin-Kōbe and Hiroshima and then through the tunnel to
Hakata station. 200-250 pairs of trains run daily on the Osaka ↔ Hakata
route. Open: Desks: 5:30 a.m.–10:00 p.m.
Shimonoseki Main Station
(下関駅), 山口県下関市竹崎町四丁目3-1 . Ordinary trains on the JR San'yō Main Line, to
Kobe. San'in Main Line, to Kyoto.
By bus
The (North) Kyūshū
SunQ Pass for long-distance buses is also valid in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
By road
Chūgoku Expressway
San'yō Expressway, along the coast
of the Seto Inland Sea: Kobe and Yamaguchi, Himeji, Okayama, Kurashiki,
Fukuyama and Hiroshima.
National Route 2, to Osaka or Kitakyūshū.
This is accessed via the Kammon Bridge which spans the Hayatomo Strait.
National Highway 9, to Kyoto
By ship
Ferry connections to
Busan in Korea. The operator is Pukwan Ferry, from ￦ 95,000 per adult in
2nd class, plus port fee, Japanese departure tax and fuel surcharge if
applicable. (As of Dec 2022)
Important until the connection to
Qingdao (China) is discontinued due to the corona epidemic.
The local bus network is operated by Sandenkotsu.
Pedestrian
tunnel
The entrance to the pedestrian tunnel, which runs parallel to
the road tunnel under the strait to Moji, is about 150 meters northwest
of the bridge. It is open from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Cable car
A cable car (火の山ロープウェイ) goes up to Hinoyama from Dannoura Station
(壇の浦駅), which can be reached by bus 10.
Ferry
Kanmon ferry
from/to Moji-ko, there directly at the station, to Shimonoseki at the
dolphinarium, 5 minutes ride for ¥ 400. Boats to the Funa-jima
recreation area (= Ganryū-jima) also depart from this pier.
The Sea Mall right next to the train station was the largest shopping
center in the country when it was completed.
Along Buzenda Street
there are numerous shops and a lot of nightlife with restaurants and
bars.
In Korea Town there is the traffic-calmed shopping street
Green Mall.
The Karato fish market is open from 5:00 a.m. to 3:00
p.m. and is not far from the ferry terminal.
(The Sunday fish
market in Chōfu has been closed since 2021.)
1 Miyanouchi (宮の内茶寮; on Iminomiya in Chōfu). Comparatively
inexpensive kaiseki cuisine. Open: 11:00–21:00, kitchen break
14:00–17:00. Price: Menu from ¥1650.
2 Tamaya Honten (たまや本店), 2-5-9
Hikoshima Oimachi. Fugu restaurant. Open: 11:00–22:00, closed Wed.
Price: Fugu menus: ¥7300-22000.
3 Fugu Garden (ふぐ懐石), 4-23
Nishiotsubocho. Open: 11:00–15:00, 17:00–22:00. Price: Menu ¥
11,000-15,000.
Cinema Sunshine, Takezakicho 4-4-1-37.
At the east exit of the station there are several business hotels
from national chains: Via Inn, Dormy Inn, Toyoko Inn, etc.
1 Hinoyama
Youth Hostel (火の山ユースホステル), 7-1 Mimosusogawacho (Bus 10:
Kokuminshukushakaikyobyushimonoseki). Tel.: +81832223753. Check-in:
16:00.
2 Uzu House, 7-8 Amidaiji-cho (several bus lines,
Akamajingumae stop). Tel.: +81832509787. Overlooking the strait. Open:
cafe 8:00–23:00. Price: dormitory ¥2700, single ¥4000, each + tax.
3
Hotel Kaze No Umi (下関温泉風の海), 2-1 Chōfusotouracho (Bus 1, 11, 313,
Marinrando stop). Tel: +81832411180. Price: middle class.
Hospital
Kanmon Medical Center (Organization Kanmon Medical
Center), 1-1 Chofusotouracho (in Chofu; Busse 1, 11, 14A u.a.).
Helicopter tours are available from the heliport by the Ferris wheel, Kanmon Channel Helicopter Excursion, bookings +819075447711.
There are fewer than a hundred people living on Futaoi-jima (蓋井島).
Worth seeing are three sea caves that can be navigated by boat, and a
lighthouse that was the first to be powered by wind power in 1951.
Jingū and her son, the Ōjin-tennō, are worshipped in the Futaoi
Hachiman-gū shrine (蓋井八幡宮). There are three temple festivals a year.
Every seven years a large Shinto procession is held at the Yama no kami
shinji.
Three ferries leave Yoshimo every day in summer and two
in winter, journey time 35 minutes. One of the three accommodations is
Minshuku Suō (民宿すおう).
Nagato (長門市) is a town north of Shimonoseki that was created from
five smaller towns. You can get there by train from there on the Sanin
main line or the Mine line to Nagato-shi station (not to be confused
with Nagato-Motoyama or Nagato-Nagasawa, both stops in San'yō-Onoda).
On National Road 191, 316 (69km) or Country Road 34 (62km).
The small town is worth a visit, especially because of the offshore
island of Omi (青海島), which can be reached via a bridge from the Senzaki
district. There is the whaling museum, which is closed on Tuesdays. A
little further on is a small military cemetery from the Russo-Japanese
War of 1904/5. Buses run, not too frequently, from Nagato station.
Southern districts are individual onsen.
Accommodation
青海島キャンプ村, 2057 Senzaki (pretty much in the middle of Omi Island; bus
connection). Tel.: +81837261357. Campsite and huts. Small beach in a
sheltered bay and diving center nearby. Open: Operation April 1st -
November 30th.
Familylodge Hatagoya (ファミリーロッジ旅籠屋), 801-22
Higashifukawa (200m from the station). Tel.: +81837228855.
Ōtani
Sansō, 2208 Fukawayumoto (in Yumoto Onsen. Nagato-Yumoto station).
Price: middle class.
San'yō-Onoda and Ube
San'yō-Onoda
(山陽小野田市) and Ube (宇部市) are located together on the Seto Inland Sea. The
city is industrial.
When coal mining was still going on here, Ube
was one of the dirtiest cities in Japan. Today there is a petrochemical
industry. A mining museum (宇部市石炭記念館) has been set up around the walk-in
winding tower of the mine on Lake Tokiwa, which is surrounded by a park.
Next door is the Tokiwa Zoo and an amusement park.
Arrival
Yamaguchi-Ube Airport (山口宇部空港, IATA: UBJ; Kusae train stop on the Ube
Line) . Line connections only with Toyko-Haneda.
Until the mid-19th century, Shimonoseki served as the capital of
Nagato Province. The city has long had close ties with the north of the
neighboring island of Kyushu. The area around the port of Shimonoseki
was called Akamagaseki (Japanese: 赤間関) or Bakana (Japanese: 馬関). In
1889, this port was transformed into the city of Akamagaseki, which was
renamed Shimonoseki in 1902. In February 2005, this city expanded by
absorbing neighboring settlements in Toyoura County.
Shimonoseki
is famous throughout Japan for its history. In 1185, the major Battle of
Dannoura took place in its suburban waters. It ended a long war between
the Japanese samurai clans of Taira and Minamoto and consolidated the
dominance of the Kamakura Shogunate in Japan for the next 150 years. The
Battle of Dannoura is celebrated in the Tale of the Taira, a masterpiece
of Japanese classical literature, and one of its participants, Minamoto
no Yoshitsune, is considered a Japanese national hero.
Shimonoseki is also associated with the legendary duel that took place
in 1612 on the uninhabited island of Ganryujima between Japanese
swordsmen Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro. The island, which is now
part of the city, attracts martial arts fans from Japan and around the
world. The theme of this duel remains one of the most popular in
Japanese literature, cinema, manga and anime.
During the Edo
period (1603-1867), the territory of Shimonoseki belonged to the Mori
samurai clan, one of the leading participants in the Meiji Restoration
in the 19th century. This restoration marked the beginning of Japanese
modernization and the transformation of Japan into one of the leading
countries of the 20th century.
1863-1864 The Battle of
Shimonoseki took place between the Choshu principality and a coalition
of four Western powers - Great Britain, France, Holland and the United
States.
In 1895, Shimonoseki became the site of the signing of a
peace treaty between the Japanese Empire and the Chinese Qing Empire. It
ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and, by strengthening the
position of the Japanese state in the international arena, prevented the
colonization of Japan by European countries and the United States.
Many famous Japanese were born in Shimonoseki - actor Matsuda
Yusaku, writer Hayashi Fumiko and others.
Shimonoseki is located north of the Kammon Strait opposite the city
of Kitakyushu on the island of Kyushu, with which it is connected by
tunnels, a ferry and the Kammon Bridge.
The island of Futaoi is
30 minutes by boat to the northwest.
Shimonoseki is an important fishing port. It is particularly
considered the traditional home port of the Japanese whaling fleet.
In addition to fish processing (especially fugu), other economically
important industries include shipyards, chemical factories, engineering
offices and tourism. The biggest tourist attraction is the Akama-jingū,
which is dedicated to the Japanese child emperor Antoku.
Shimonoseki is also an important transport port. As early as 1905–1945,
daily railway ferries ran to Busan/Korea with direct connections to the
Trans-Siberian Railway: Busan–Seoul–Uiju (China), Andong–Mukden
(Russia/USSR), Manchuria, etc. From 1967, regular passenger traffic with
our Asian neighbors was gradually resumed. Today, among other things,
daily ferries run again to Busan/Korea and twice a week to
Qingdao/China.