Chugoku in Spring

The Senjokaku, a large open wooden hall on the hill above Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima island in the Seto Inland Sea off Hiroshima, was begun by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1587 and left unfinished after his death in 1598, with the hall's open platform of 857 tatami mats looking out across a cluster of cherry trees that bloom around April 1 towards the vermilion Otorii Great Torii Gate standing offshore in the water of the shrine. Itsukushima Shrine itself was rebuilt in 1168 by Taira no Kiyomori as his clan's family shrine and was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996 along with the primeval forests of Mount Misen behind it, with the buildings constructed over the tidal flats on wooden pillars so that they appear to float at high tide. Miyajima is one of Japan's Three Most Scenic Views alongside Matsushima and Amanohashidate. The five storey pagoda built in 1407 stands beside the Senjokaku and the Mount Misen ropeway from the interior of the island climbs to a summit viewpoint across the Inland Sea. Itsukushima Shrine is illuminated nightly until 11pm. From Hiroshima Station the JR Sanyo Line runs to Miyajimaguchi Station in around 30 minutes, with a 10 minute ferry to the island including a ¥100 visitor tax.

Around 1,500 cherry trees of around 20 varieties cover the slopes of Senkoji Park (千光寺公園) on Mount Senkoji above the historic port town of Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture, with peak bloom in late March and early April and the park listed among Japan's Top 100 Cherry Blossom Spots. The summit gives a panoramic view across the old town rooftops to the Seto Inland Sea and the chain of small islands beyond, and there are now two separate places to take it in. The Senkoji Temple Summit Observatory PEAK, reopened in 2022 and connected to the ropeway summit station by lift, is the higher of them. MiTeMi, completed in March 2022 on the site of the former Onomichi Castle and given its name by public competition later that year, is the other, a two storey structure that leaves the old castle stonework exposed and carries an 80 square metre viewing deck on its upper floor, open around the clock. Senkoji Temple itself, founded in 806 by the monk Kobo Daishi, has a vermilion lacquered main hall known as the Akado or "Red Hall", rebuilt in 1686 and standing on a raised platform that juts out from the cliff face. The way up on foot is the Old Temple Walk (古寺めぐりコース), a stone paved path of about 2 kilometres that threads the hillside from Jikoji near the station east to Kairyuji and takes in around 25 temples and shrines, roughly 3 hours end to end if you stop at them. The Senkoji Ropeway is the quick alternative, 3 minutes for the climb with departures every 15 minutes and adult fares ¥500 one way or ¥700 round trip. Lanterns light the trees at night for evening cherry viewing. JR Onomichi Station is around 15 minutes' walk from the ropeway base station and is reachable from Hiroshima via Fukuyama Station on the Shinkansen, and it is also the mainland end of the Shimanami Kaido, so a blossom morning on the hill pairs with an afternoon on the first islands of the cycling route.

Daigo-zakura (醍醐桜) is one cherry tree, an Azuma higan, standing alone on a hillside above the hamlet of Bessho in Maniwa, northern Okayama. Estimates put its age at around 700 years and local tradition at 1,000. It is 18m tall, 7.1m round the trunk at chest height and 9.2m round the base, and its branches spread about 20m in every direction. It has been an Okayama Prefecture natural monument since 1972. The name comes from a legend that Emperor Go-Daigo stopped to admire the tree in 1332 on his way into exile on the Oki Islands. The small pale blossom usually opens from late March to early April. The Daigo-zakura Festival runs from first bloom until the leaves come through, with food stalls from 9am and the tree lit up from 6:30pm to 9pm. No train or bus goes to the tree. By car it is about 30 minutes from Hokubo IC on the Chugoku Expressway, the last 10km on narrow mountain roads that run one way at peak bloom and back up at weekends. Without a car, a taxi from JR Tsukida Station takes about 15 minutes. On busy weekends it is easier to park lower down by the katakuri flower colony at the foot of the hill and walk about 2km up to the tree.

Spring is when madai is at its best in the Seto Inland Sea, and the fish caught then is called 桜鯛 (sakura dai). The Inland Sea's particular claim is the water itself. The tide is forced through a series of narrows between the islands, and bream that hold in those currents come out firm fleshed and lean rather than soft. The season peaks as the fish gather to spawn from April. It is eaten as sashimi and salt grilled, but the regional dish is 鯛めし (Tai Meshi), a whole bream laid on rice and cooked with it so the stock runs through the grain, then flaked and mixed at the table. Hiroshima and Okayama both do it. Kanto buys this fish at market alongside everyone else's. Here it is pulled out of the channel down the road.

いかなご (Ikanago) are fished as tiny young fish, シンコ (shinko), in a season that opens in late February or early March and can be over in a fortnight, and the whole point is what happens next. They are simmered hard in soy, sugar, mirin and ginger until they stiffen and curl into shapes said to resemble rusty nails, which is where the name くぎ煮 (kugini) comes from. It is made at home in large batches while the fish are in, and the smell of it carries through whole neighbourhoods for the week or two the season lasts. The custom is strongest around Akashi and the Harima coast at the eastern end of the Inland Sea and carries along the Okayama shoreline, so it belongs to the Inland Sea rather than to any one prefecture. The finished kugini keeps for months and is eaten a few pieces at a time with rice.

シラウオ (Shirauo) is a small, almost transparent fish that runs into 宍道湖 (Lake Shinji) in Shimane to spawn between February and April, and it is one of the lake's seven named specialities. The traditional method is a 四つ手網 (yotsude ami), a square dip net on crossed poles worked from a small boat, and the stretch below 松江大橋 (Matsue Bridge) is where it was done. The fish is two or three centimetres long, eaten whole, and has almost no flavour of its own beyond a clean sweetness, so the preparations are about texture. 白魚のかき揚げ, a fritter of them bound in light batter, is the dish the agriculture ministry lists as Shimane's own, and the fish is also served raw in a vinegared dressing or dropped into a clear soup. It is not to be confused with しらす, which is a different fish entirely.