Hiroshima and Matsuyama 5-Day Itinerary: Day Four

Read Day 1 here - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Manga Library
Read Day 2 here - Miyajima, Mount Misen
Read Day 3 here - Ferry to Matsuyama
Read Day 4 here - Matsuyama Castle, Dogo Onsen, Ishiteji Temple
Read Day 5 here - Return journey

Today was a full day city tour of Matsuyama (??) and we purchased a one-day tram pass (500 yen). Our first stop was the Matsuyama Castle which was on top of Mount Katsuyama at 132 metres above sea level. There is a ropeway that takes you up for 2000 yen roundtrip but we opted to walk. There were a lot of stairs and some parts were steep but it wasn't a long walk (around 15 minutes).

Matsuyama Castle

The castle area is free to walk around in but the castle itself cost 510 yen to enter. There were three floors and at the top we could see a panoramic view of the city. No shoes are allowed inside and they provide slippers to wear but you may want to bring/wear socks. The stairs inside the castle were steep but not as steep and narrow as the Himeji Castle ones.

View from Matsuyama Castle

After descending the mountain we found lunch at Ehime Kitchen which was delicious. We took the tram back to the Dogo Onsen (????) area and went to the Dogo Onsen Hanko's tour of where past imperial families have used their facilities 10 times. It cost 260 yen and was a short tour. We opted for the tour instead of bathing at the onsen because it was very crowded during Silver Week.

Dogo Onsen

Next on the agenda was walking from a back route to the Ishiteji Temple (???). We were recommended this path by the person at our hostel and she gave a chuckle when she said there were some strange statues on the trail. The path can be reached going past Dogo Onsen and walking away and uphill from the shopping streets.

On the way you will see a sign that says Youth Hostel. You can follow that sign uphill until another Youth Hostel sign points for you to turn right. Instead of turning right, keep going straight. This part was completely empty unlike the busy Dogo Onsen Arcade a block back.

Entrance to the cave

On the way, there is a kindergarten and graveyard. On the right is an entrance to a cave which is 200 metres long and leads to Ishiteji temple. The large stone on the front roughly resembled a skull. Across the street from the cave further down the road was a broken sign which read "Welcome" in English and another word I did not recognize. There was a scary looking figure carved above the wooden sign. Beyond the wooden sign was a very large dome shaped bronze structure called the Mandala that looked like a space ship behind the gnarly trees that obstructed my vision of it. I was honestly a bit jumpy at this point from all the weird sights.

Walking along the trail, you will see a very large statue of a Buddhist monk named Kobo Daishi. I found out the names of all the strange things I saw in a brochure at the temple but before knowing what they were, it all seemed a bit strange. The land on the sides of the trail were a bit forlorn with an abandoned looking building and stone and colourful crumbling statues watching those who approached on the trail.

Ishiteji Temple

Finally we reached the Ishiteji Temple and the inside was more "normal." There were elements that were common to other Japanese temples but the trail that led to this temple made it feel special. We didn't go into the cave nor the Mandala because they were closed but read this blog post on the entire experience. It was definitely the most adventurous day of our trip.

Since the bathhouse in Spirited Away was inspired by Dogo Onsen, we joked that the unique sights that we saw in Matsuyama must have helped with ideas in the movie as well.

After the goosebump inducing hike, we went to Tsubaki no Yu down the road from Dogo Onsen for a bath. It was a more modern onsen than Dogo and less crowded. It cost 400 yen and you must bring your own towel and soap. Though if you forget, those are available for rental. Using the hair dryer cost 10 yen and the locker also cost 10 yen.

Dogo Onsen and Tsubaki no Yu are known to have really hot water. This was my first public bathhouse experience in Japan so I cannot compare to other public baths but it was certainly much hotter than the baths I have tried in ryokans and hotels. The relaxing onsen soaked away all the tiredness from traveling the last few days and I felt so refreshed despite a bit sleepy.

We ended the night with a nice bowl of udon and re-watched Spirited Away with snacks back at the hostel.

Free public foot bath outside Dogo Onsen Station

Read Day 1 here - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Manga Library
Read Day 2 here - Miyajima, Mount Misen
Read Day 3 here - Ferry to Matsuyama
Read Day 4 here - Matsuyama Castle, Dogo Onsen, Ishiteji Temple
Read Day 5 here - Return journey

Hiroshima and Matsuyama 5-Day Itinerary: Day Three

Read Day 1 here - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Manga Library
Read Day 2 here - Miyajima, Mount Misen
Read Day 3 here - Ferry to Matsuyama
Read Day 4 here - Matsuyama Castle, Dogo Onsen, Ishiteji Temple
Read Day 5 here - Return journey

We purchased a one-day tram pass (600 yen) and rode it from Miyajimaguchi to the Hondori (??) area which took almost an hour. We roamed around the area and had lunch at Coco Ichi before taking the tram to Hiroshima Port Ujina Terminal.

At the terminal we bought our ferry tickets to Matsuyama (??). There are two types of ferries: car ferry and super jet. The former takes 2.5 hours to reach Matsuyama and the latter takes 1 hour at double the price. There is currently a promotion for foreign visitors to Japan for the ferries. We were able to save 1600 yen for the car ferry option by showing our passports and paid 2000 yen for the one-way ticket.

Car ferry from Hiroshima to Matsuyama

The car ferry is not very frequent so please check the schedule ahead of time here. Although 2.5 hours sounds long, it didn't feel like a burden at all. We sat in the comfortable boat which sold snacks at convenience store prices and enjoyed the view. I really enjoyed the scenery of the ride because there were mountains, islands and blue water in every direction. The port towns that I have seen in Japanese animated movies came to life as we passed by different islands lined with little houses at the base.

Matsuyama Kanko Port

We finally arrived at the Matsuyama Kanko Port by 6pm. The sun was setting and the view was gorgeous. Initially we were going to visit the Mitsuhama Port (???) so we took the train instead of the limousine bus to leave the ferry terminal. It is easier to just take the Iyotetsu limousine bus that will take you straight to the Dogo Onsen (????) area for 620 yen.

We walked about 10 minutes to Takahama Station and rode the Iyotetsu train to Mitsuhama Station (160 yen). It is a one kilometre walk from the station to Mitsuhama Port. We were hungry by that time so we ate dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street from the station. After dinner we figured everything would be closed at the port anyways so we did not walk to the port and instead walked to the JR station.

Not realizing that trains were very infrequent at the Mitsuhama JR station (1 train per hour), we just missed our train and had to wait an hour for the next one. Mitsuhama JR is only 1 stop and about a 5 minute ride from Matsuyama JR station but we had to wait an hour for it. It cost 210 yen.

Dogo Onsen

When the train finally came at 9pm, we were elated and quickly arrived in Matsuyama. From Matsuyama, we took the tram line 5 (160 yen) to Dogo Onsen Station. Our hostel for the next two nights, Sen Guesthouse, was less than 10 minutes walk away. The Dogo Onsen area was still crowded with people in yukata at 10pm. Perhaps this was due to the holiday because the next night at 10:20pm, all the shops were closed and there were much fewer people walking around.

Read Day 1 here - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Manga Library
Read Day 2 here - Miyajima, Mount Misen
Read Day 3 here - Ferry to Matsuyama
Read Day 4 here - Matsuyama Castle, Dogo Onsen, Ishiteji Temple
Read Day 5 here - Return journey