Versatile Nagato

What?
Nagato (長門) is a small town but big in surface in the northern area of Yamaguchi Prefecture (山口県). It’s main asset is the scenic Motonosumi Inari Shrine (元乃隅稲成神社) which figures on many posters promoting Yamaguchi tourism. But the town also boasts some beautiful coastal scenery which can easily be viewed from a cruise ship, a kind of whale museum, a few onsen spots and rice paddies. It’s also the birthplace of Japanese poet Kaneko Misuzu (金子みすゞ).
Where?
Nagatoshi Station (長門市駅) is an important hub connecting the Mine Line (美祢線) and the Sanin Main Line (山陰本線). That being said, both lines are served very infrequently and it might be better to come by bus and get around town with a (rental) bicycle. Even more recommended is coming by car so you can visit the many remote parks and viewpoints, like for example the Motonosumi Inari Shrine.
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Visit Nagato

Kaneko Misuzu. Did anyone of you ever hear of her? No? Well I’m not really surprised. But she is a pretty famous poetry writer in Japan. She was largely forgotten but after the 2011 Tohoku tsunami one of her poems was one of the things to console a nation in distress. This woman who led quite a short and tragic life was born in the remote fishing village of Senzaki, now a part of Nagato. There are many things in the town that refer to her, but to be honest I don’t have any connection with poetry, let alone poetry in Japanese. So I just researched her a bit, and otherwise I stuck to visiting some coastline stops. The first was a cruise around the Omijima Island (青海島). Well, because of high waves it was only a third of that cruise. I wondered if this shortened version was worth paying for, but I did have the GoToTravel Campaign coupon, so I ended up paying 300 yen for a 50 minute boat ride.
At first I wasn’t convinced. The boat stayed at a very considerable distance from a bland, cemented coastline. I started dozing off when the boat turned to face the Sea of Japan and then I saw why these cruises are organized. I never get tired of these dramatic cliffs eroded to arches and candle-like mini islands. The boat also got really close to some of the more interesting locations, making it a pretty satisfying outing. I would have very much liked to do the whole loop around Omijima Island though, this replacement cruise felt a little bit too short.

On my last day in Yamaguchi Prefecture I would be mainly traveling home. Cheap tickets between Kyushu and Osaka meant that it would be better for me to first go all the way to Kokura Station, and then board a Kodama Shinkansen home. It would take a lot of time, but it allowed me to ride the train on the very scenic Sanin Main Line while recuperating from a rather tiresome - but rewarding - trip.

Before that, I had one last place to visit though. The Motonosumi Inari shrine is located along the Sanin line - which is greatly convenient, but still a two hour walk away from the nearest station - which is greatly inconvenient. That is why I had brought my foldable bicycle which had already come in handy while visiting the Susa Hornfels. But of course, half of the way (in distance of course) was walking with a heavy backpack and the bicycle in hand as I am not the athlete to climb 200 meters by bicycle. But I cut the time down to 40 minutes, so thank you little bike.

Scenes like this are all around Omijima Island.

The boat can go quite fast.

View of Senzaki from Omijima.

Going through Motonosumi Inari Shrine's red toriis.

Once arrived at my destiny I was both satisfied as disappointed. The shrine’s buildings are just shacks, but that’s of course not why people come here. It’s the long row of bright red toriis against an apparel blue ocean that lead up to a dramatic giant rock formation. At this point you can also see the waves crashing 200 meters high - the Ryugu Wave Splash (龍宮の潮吹). That is in rough weather of course. But even today with what seemed to me a calm sea, the splashes reached what I thought to be 10 meters.

The shrine and the natural beauty of the coastline make for really great photo spots and are a recommendation! That is, if you go by car.

I found the shrine to be too small to justify the walk/bike ride from the station. By car it would take no effort and you can visit the nearby Senjojiki Park and the Higashi Ushirobatatanaba Rice Fields (or simply the Yuya Rice Fields), which both seem so beautiful on google pictures (in the right season of course).

But let’s not complain. I got to take in the beautiful Japanese rural scenery along the way, so I was pretty satisfied.

And there was of course that scenic train ride still to come!