Chugoku in Summer

The Shimanami Kaido (しまなみ海道) crossing the Seto Inland Sea between Onomichi in Hiroshima and Imabari in Ehime carries a 70 kilometre dedicated cycling path alongside the Nishiseto Expressway, over six bridges and through the six islands of Mukaishima, Innoshima, Ikuchijima, Omishima, Hakatajima and Oshima, marked by a painted blue line on the road shoulder from one end to the other so that navigation takes care of itself. The last crossing before Imabari is the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge, 4,105 metres of the world's first three linked suspension bridge, thrown across a strait about 4 kilometres wide. Bridge tolls for cyclists are waived to 31 March 2028 under the Shimanami Cycling Free scheme, and Cycle Oasis rest stops at regular intervals provide bicycle racks, water, food and toilets. The Shimanami Japan rental network hires a cross bike or city cycle for ¥1,100 a day and an electric assist bike for ¥1,600, on top of a ¥1,100 deposit that comes back only if the bike is returned to the terminal it came from or another on the same island, so riding one way costs the deposit. Sagawa Express will move a bag between the two ends for ¥2,200 on the same day, which leaves you riding with a daypack. Summer riding runs June through September and rewards an early start, with the heat off the water by mid morning and shade to be found in the citrus groves on the southern islands. The route takes 6 to 8 hours for a moderate cyclist at one day pace and is commonly broken into two days with an overnight stop on Omishima, where the treasure hall at Oyamazumi Shrine holds around 80 per cent of the arms and armour designated National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties in Japan, at ¥1,000 for adults. Kosanji Temple on Ikuchijima, the Murakami Kaizoku Museum on Oshima and the Yoshiumi Rose Park, also on Oshima and free to enter with 3,500 rose plants of 400 varieties flowering from mid May into December, are the other stops worth shaping a day around. From Hiroshima Station the JR Sanyo Line runs to Onomichi Station in around 1 hour 40 minutes for ¥1,520, with the Sanyo Shinkansen to Shin-Onomichi Station taking around 35 minutes for ¥3,280 as the faster option.

The Nageire-do (投入堂) is a small wooden hall built into a cave on a sheer cliff face high on the sacred mountain of Mitokusan (三徳山) in Misasa, Tottori, designated a National Treasure and dating to the late Heian period over 1,000 years ago, with the construction method by which the building was placed in the inaccessible cliff cave still unknown and the structure popularly called "Japan's most dangerous National Treasure". Reaching the temple requires registering at the climber's office at the Sanbutsuji (三佛寺) main hall, the Tendai mountain temple at the foot of the mountain founded by the Shugendo ascetic En no Gyoja in 706 AD, with the shoe inspection required at registration and minimum two person rule for safety, the option of buying traditional straw sandals if footwear is inadequate, and the steep mountain trail to the temple taking around 45 minutes one way with sections of chain climbs and slippery boulder traverses past the Kazura-zaka root strewn slope and the Uma-no-se and Ushi-no-se rock surfaces. The Nageire-do can only be viewed from outside the cliff site rather than entered, with a distant Yohaijo viewing point on the road at the base of the mountain as an alternative for those not climbing. The mountain climbing fee is ¥1,200 including the main hall admission, with registration open 8am to 3pm and descent required by 4:30pm, and the mountain closed entirely in wet weather. From JR Kurayoshi Station the Hinomaru Bus on the Misasa Line runs to Mitokusan Sando Iriguchi in around 40 minutes.

秋吉台 (Akiyoshidai) in Mine City, Yamaguchi, is the largest karst plateau in Japan, a rolling upland at around 300 metres where the limestone breaks through the grass in thousands of grey and white pinnacles and the ground is pocked with sinkholes. It has been a Quasi-National Park since 1955 and a Special Natural Monument since 1964. In summer the grassland is at its greenest, and the Akiyoshidai Karst Road that crosses the plateau passes viewpoints over the whole sweep of it. Below the plateau lies 秋芳洞 (Akiyoshido), one of the largest limestone caves in Japan, with an entrance 20 metres high, chambers up to 200 metres wide and a constant temperature of 17°C, which makes it the coolest place in the region on an August afternoon. Admission to the cave is ¥1,300 for adults. The plateau is burned every February in the Akiyoshidai Yamayaki, which is why the grass returns so fresh and even by early summer. Walking up from the cave on the elevator exit to the plateau above and following one of the marked trails across the karst is the classic half day, and the Akiyoshidai Science Museum explains how the landscape formed.

小イワシ (Ko-Iwashi) are small sardines landed in the Seto Inland Sea, and Hiroshima has a saying about them, that washed seven times they are better than sea bream, which refers to the rinsing the fish get before they are served raw. The season runs through the warm months, and being small and delicate they have to be handled fast, which is why raw ko-iwashi is a coastal dish rather than an exported one. Sashimi is the version to look for, prepared by hand rather than knife and eaten with ginger and soy. 天ぷら (tempura), the whole fish battered and fried so the bones soften, is the everyday form and turns up in every Hiroshima izakaya through the summer. They are cheap, which is part of the character of the dish, and they are eaten in quantity rather than ceremoniously.

Octopus from the Seto Inland Sea is firm rather than soft, and the currents are the reason. The tide is forced through narrow channels between the islands and an octopus holding position on that seabed builds dense muscle, so the texture has a snap to it. Summer is when it is best, and there is an old habit of eating it around the 半夏生 (hangesho) turning point in early July, the idea being that the eight arms grip like rice roots taking hold. Okayama and the Bizen coast are a centre of it, as are the waters off Mitoyo and the Shimanami islands. It is boiled and sliced, eaten as sashimi, or cooked through rice as たこめし (tako meshi), and the local touch is a squeeze of citrus rather than soy. 干しタコ, whole octopus dried in the sun on frames, is a sight along the island coasts in summer.

Hamo is Kyoto's summer fish but the Inland Sea is where it comes from, and the coast handles it differently. The fish is landed all along the Chugoku shoreline through summer, and historically it was Inland Sea hamo that travelled alive up to the capital, which is the trade that made Kyoto's hamo cuisine possible in the first place. On this coast it is treated as fish rather than as ceremony. 骨切り (honegiri), the bone cutting, is done here too because there is no way around it, but the results go into 鱧しゃぶ (hamo shabu), the scored fillets swirled briefly in a hot dashi at the table so they curl open, and into simple 鱧の天ぷら and grilled preparations. It is cheaper here and more plainly served. The Kyoto version on the Kansai page is the same fish at the end of a much longer road.