Onomichi is about 1 hour and 45 minutes away from Hiroshima and similar to Iwakuni is not usually on the stop off list for most foreign tourists on their ‘first trip to Japan’ tour. The city itself is famous for Onomichi ramen and Senko-ji Temple and its corresponding ‘Path of Literature‘. For us as we had already done the ‘first trip to Japan’ tour we decided to stop off and take a look as the path of literature was suppose to be quite famous in the area. We jumped on a Osaka bound train and had to change train at Mihara station, and Onomichi station was only a fast 10 minutes from there. To get to the main ropeway that will take you to the path of Literature you need to either take bus no 1 or walk through to the ropeway. The walk is about 15 minutes and as long as its not too hot, its quite a good walk through arcades and local shops. There is two paths you can take for the Onomichi ‘pilgrimage’, the Path of Literature will take you to view about 24 different temples with it stopping at the top around Senko-ji temple. If you are not really interested in seeing all of the temples (many of which are so small anyway) you can just head up the ropeway to get to Senko-Ji (the most famous of all of them and the actually literature path itself.
Upon reaching the top of the ropeway there’s a few things you can do, if it’s hot I suggest buying a drink from one of the many vending machines in the resting spot. After you’re hydrated head towards the signs pointing to Senko-Ji temple and along the way there are many famous works of literature where sections have been carved into many stones and rocks along the way (literally the path of Literature). At the end of all of this is the Senko-Ji Temple which gives great views of Onomichi city. If your here in Spring you might be lucky enough to see all of cherry blossoms that will be in bloom on top of this small mountain. Onomichi makes for a great stop on the way to Hiroshima if you want to go somewhere a little bit more off the beaten path. Definitely give the ramen a go as it has become arguably very famous for avid ramen seekers. After we finished off we could a taxi back to the station to catch a 3 PM train on the way to Kurashiki before finally heading home to Osaka.
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