Uncover Genuine Japan in Hyogo Prefecture – For City Ladies

Himeji Castle in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture is arguably most well-known for its succulent Kobe beef, which bears the identify of the prefecture’s capital metropolis. Nevertheless, the expansive Hyogo, which stretches throughout Japan’s essential island from the Seto Inland Sea within the south to the Sea of Japan within the north, affords an enormous vary of genuine experiences simply ready to be found.

From the evolution of conventional meals and sake to samurai swords and castles to Japan’s creation myths, Hyogo is the perfect place for guests to discover Japanese tradition off the overwhelmed monitor.

However that doesn’t imply Hyogo is distant — fairly the other. Direct buses run between Kobe’s central Sannomiya Station and each Kansai Worldwide Airport and Osaka Worldwide Airport (Itami Airport); Kobe even has its personal home airport that’s at present making ready to just accept worldwide flights. As well as, the bullet practice connecting Tokyo with Osaka and Kyoto additionally stops, solely about quarter-hour previous Osaka, at Shin-Kobe Station. Whereas Kobe itself incorporates loads to discover and expertise, unlocking the remainder of Hyogo Prefecture is simple by way of both public transportation or a rental automotive.

Right here’s how guests can take pleasure in Hyogo’s wealthy tradition whereas taking a journey by means of Japan’s charming previous and current.

A hamburg set meal at Teppanyaki Kobe Fuji utilizing Kobe beef and local vegetables

A hamburg set meal at Teppanyaki Kobe Fuji using Kobe beef and native greens | © Don Kennedy

Kobe beef enjoys a deserved spot among the many pantheon of internationally famend Japanese delicacies. In truth, the roots of Japanese wagyu beef run even deeper in Hyogo. Many well-known wagyu varieties — together with, in fact, Kobe beef — can hint their origin to Hyogo and its Tajima cattle. It’s stated that nearly all Japanese black cattle are descended from one Tajima cow, named “Tajiri-go,” which was born in 1939 in Hyogo’s lush Ojiro space.

Kobe affords guests myriad methods to take pleasure in its well-known wagyu, and every eating expertise has a narrative behind it. At Sannomiya Kobe Plaisir, for instance, company can have interaction in a quintessential teppanyaki course meal that showcases the very best of the prefecture’s beef and seasonal produce. For a totally totally different although no much less scrumptious expertise, Ganso Gyozaen in Kobe’s Chinatown serves up Manchurian-style gyoza potstickers made with various percentages of Kobe beef. What’s extra, Kobe soul meals restaurant Teppanyaki Kobe Fuji goals to make Kobe beef accessible to anybody, regardless of their price range, alongside offering different comforting native dishes.

Past Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture is simply ready to share different highlights of conventional Japanese delicacies. Excessive-quality Japanese rice and the sake made out of it are two consultant native merchandise. Miyake Sake Brewery, established in 1819 and situated in Hyogo’s Kasai Metropolis, sources a Hyogo-specialty number of rice known as Yamadanishiki completely from native farmers, and its sake displays the distinctive traits of the area. The brewery is accessible from Kobe in a single hour by automotive or roughly two hours by public transportation. Guests can take pleasure in an intensive brewery tour and tasting that even samples the clear native water used to supply the sake.

Miyake Sake Brewery | © Don Kennedy

Miyake’s sake is offered extraordinarily regionally — it’s uncommon even to search out in Kobe. Nevertheless, guests can expertise pairing it with conventional Japanese delicacies at Izumi, a seasonal kaiseki restaurant with a Michelin star additionally in Kasai Metropolis. Kaiseki course meals grew from the culinary traditions of tea ceremonies and Buddhist monks. Though Izumi’s chef educated at eating places in Kyoto, he returned to Hyogo along with his spouse to take over Izumi from his mother and father. Whereas Izumi initially served less complicated fare, the pair needed to share their kaiseki dishes with their hometown too.

Kikyo Hayamitsu Japanese Sword Smith. © Don Kennedy

Stepping additional again into Japan’s previous, Hyogo additionally affords distinctive glimpses into the world of the enduring warriors who, for hundreds of years, helped form the nation and its tradition: the samurai.

At Kikyo Hayamitsu Japanese Sword Smithy, situated in Hyogo’s Aioi Metropolis, guests can watch swordsmith Kikyo Hayamitsu forge high-quality Japanese swords. Within the first a part of the forge tour and workshop, guests study concerning the historical past of Japanese swords and the strategies crucial for crafting them. Within the sword-making course of, particular metal is heated to round 1,200 levels C and folded a number of occasions to take away impurities; the flames dancing across the metallic change from blue to pink because the impurities soften away. Sparks fly because the sword is hammered into additional refinement. Within the second a part of the tour and workshop, guests expertise for themselves the method of constructing a small knife. Reservations could be made on-line or by way of e-mail.

Situated lower than an hour away by automotive, the Shiota Onsen space affords hardworking smiths — and anybody else — an opportunity to calm down and refresh. With its pure scorching springs believed to have been found in Japan’s Nara interval (710–794), the world’s high-quality water has been used for rest and medical functions for the reason that samurai’s closing heyday, the Edo interval (1603–1868).

Himeji Castle during cherry blossom season

Himeji Fort throughout cherry blossom season

One other iconic picture from the age of samurai is the Japanese fort. Though Hyogo’s Himeji Fort is famend for its glistening white partitions and putting type, a fast journey north from Himeji by way of the Bantan practice line also can carry guests to the Fifteenth-century Takeda Fort Ruins, referred to as “the fort within the sky.” Providing a commanding view of the encircling space from its mountain perch, Takeda Fort was initially constructed as a army outpost, and the rocks for its stone partitions had been carried by hand from a close-by quarry. Even after the fort was largely destroyed, locals maintained its stone basis over the centuries. The ruins are most spectacular within the early morning from mid-September to early December when the rising solar hits mist wafting up from the river under.

Takeda Castle ruins in Hyogo Prefecture Japan

For guests to Hyogo on a tighter schedule, trekking Mount Rokko close to Kobe gives one other alternative to flee fashionable metropolis life and expertise Hyogo’s nice outdoor. The Arima Onsen space, accessible by ropeway from the mountain, additionally affords a handy various to the extra distant Shiota.

Hyogo Prefecture traces its historical past even sooner than the age of samurai and incorporates places central to Japan’s creation myths.

Situated on Awaji Island, roughly an hour away from central Kobe by bus or automotive, Izanagi Shrine is devoted to the Shinto deities Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto, the divine couple who, in response to legend, created the Japanese archipelago. Much less crowded than the shrines and temples of Kyoto, Izanagi Shrine is believed to be the oldest shrine in Japan and is definitely one in all its most necessary. With fortunate timing, guests may even get to expertise one of many varied festivals held on the shrine all year long.

Close to the shrine’s essential corridor stands a formidable 900-year-old camphor tree, which is alleged to accommodate the spirits of Izanagi and Izanami and to which individuals pray for a cheerful marriage and secure beginning. In Shinto mythology, Izanagi is the daddy of the solar goddess Amaterasu Omikami, the chief deity of the Shinto pantheon.

On the south facet of Awaji Island, Nushima Onokoro Cruise affords boat excursions round close by Nushima Island, one other key location within the Izanagi and Izanami legend. In line with fantasy, the couple used a heavenly spear to stir chaotic waters, and the drops that fell from their spear fashioned Nushima Island. There, the deities proceeded to “give beginning” to the remainder of the archipelago, beginning with Awaji Island. On the boat tour, a educated information explains the island’s particular rock formations, seen solely from the water, and their varied cultural significances to each native fishers and legend. Though excursions are performed in Japanese, the information also can share data simply in English.

For guests extra drawn to pure historical past than to fantasy, the geometric rock formations of Genbudo Park, situated in northern Hyogo, showcase a unique side of the area’s distant previous. Designated as a Pure Monument of Japan, the park incorporates strolling trails, caves, and plush greenery along with its mesmerizing stone patterns, which fashioned 1.6 million years in the past from magma flows in a volcanic eruption. However even right here, legend isn’t far: The biggest of the 5 caves, the eponymous Genbu cave, was named after a legendary creature with the physique of a tortoise and the top and tail of a serpent, a picture evoked by the rocks’ snaking pillars and hexagonal joints.

In conclusion: From previous to future

As worldwide tourism to Japan rises, guests are desirous to take time to discover the nation off the overwhelmed monitor and search out genuine experiences, whereas locals hope to welcome company throughout a variety of places, with out concern about over-tourism. The conveniently situated and culturally wealthy Hyogo Prefecture is a transparent win-win for guests and locals alike. Constructing on its lengthy and compelling historical past, Hyogo is certain to be a favourite vacation spot going ahead.