Kita in Japanese means north. This town is located about 50 km to the north of Hiroshima city. The area is about 646.2 km2. It takes about 40 minutes by car to reach this town from Hiroshima city. You can access here by four main country roads including road no.186, no.191, no.261, and no.433 and two express ways including Chugoku expressway and Sanyo expressway. Since the location is at high altitude mountainous area, this place is famous with its cold weather, thick snow and ski resorts. Interestingly, there is another Kita Hiroshima too in other part of Japan, in Hokkaido that is also have many ski resorts. So, don’t mistake when you search it on the map.
Kita Hiroshima is a merger from 4 town (Chiyoda, Geihoku, Oasa, and Toyohira) on February 1, 2005. Each town has its own uniqueness. Chiyoda and Toyohira are located in the southern part with the lower altitude compared to the two others. Other than ski resorts, Oasa and Geihoku are known for arts and culture enjoyments.
The population in Kita Hiroshima is around 18,000 and the trend is decreasing year by year. Due to this depopulation, they are facing problems such as aging society, lack of workforce, and a lot of abandoned houses and lands. However, the people are very active tackling this issue. They have many activities and efforts being made facing this situation.
They have seasonal events to invite people come to this town. The most famous one and recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2011 is the rice planting festival called “Mibu no Hana Taue”. This festival is held on first Sunday of June every year, where people dress in traditional style, planting rice together, accompanied by traditional music instruments. They dress up cattle who plough the rice field soil with beautiful costume too. The festival is very unique and attracts people from all over Japan also some foreigners to attend it. There are many other events being held in this town, such as Wasamachi which is specific for Oasa area where they perform traditional dances, handicraft making, bazaar and many others. Kagura, a traditional theatrical performance from Kita Hiroshima is also very famous. This theatrical performance brings legendary folk stories into action and dances with beautiful costumes, elegant movements, and lively music.
Agriculture is one of their major economy sectors. Agriculture has blend so much into their lifestyle and rice is their main product followed by corn and soybean as the second and third major products. Rice from Kita Hiroshima is famous with its good quality. People in Kita Hiroshima mostly work in agriculture field, or manage their own business or work as employee. Many of those who commute to the city to work also make agriculture as their part time job.
Although this town is very cold in winter and have thick snow that makes them have 9 ski resorts, their nature landscape is also beautiful in other seasons. They have high biodiversity and the efforts of protecting them are being done, such as by having national park in Yahata Highland where they have wetland area, they study and educate people about the importance of preserving the nature. The unique and the only in the world twisted-branches trees called Tengushide can be found only in this little town. Located far away from the city, the people in Kita Hiroshima working hard to protect their homeland and make it not only comfortable to live for them, but also for the people who visit this small town.
About one hour and a half from the starting point, we made a stop at a small restaurant, which looks like a hut among the mountains. The owner is a lady who is very king and friendly. She welcomed us into her restaurant and visit herb garden in front. She was proud to present the herbs that are planted by her. When we came into a restaurant, we saw it decorated by dried herbs from her garden. The capacity of the restaurant is available for 10 to 20 people to sit in. A well decorated lunch set including of several ingredients such as vegetables, meat and omelet. There are many options for meat including, steam fish, grill chicken and pork. Deep fried vegetables (tempura) were served together in main dish. The tempura was such an irresistible combination of taste, crispy outside and fresh inside. In addition, all of ingredients in this meal were products of Kita-Hiroshima area. If you would like to eat organic food, you will certainly have to go visit there.
“Growing a kitchen garden is one of the most romantic things an organic foodie can do. It connects you with your food and it great way for you and your significant other to get down and dirty” (Laura Klein)
Undoubtedly, nature is one of the best things to enjoy in Oasa. Plenty of it, everywhere on our way, the atmosphere is filled with fresh air to nourish our body and spirit. Oasa town is a little bit different than other more populated places in Japan. It is surrounded by mountains so winters are a little bit longer, having the possibility to enjoy the snow and winter sports for a little bit longer than usual. Missed the cherry blossom in early April? It is no problem at all, because you can still come to Oasa and enjoy the cherry blossom starting in late April. You can watch fireflies for a few days in June, and enjoy a hot summer yet less scorching than along the coastline. Similarly, autumn will start just a little bit earlier in Oasa, it is splendid to watch.
For nature lovers, Oasa will be surely an interesting and worth visiting place, with plenty of rivers, mountains and forest to explore and enjoy.
Hiroshima Prefecture, about 50 kilometers north from the capital of Hiroshima city. The owner is Mr.Hotta’s family and it is used for many event hold in Oasa.
Like any others traditional Japanese house, it has a shouji (paper-sliding door), kamado (wood or charcoal fueled cook stove), and irori (sunken hearth), a fireplace used for heating the home and for cooking food. The floor covered with tatami so we can feel warm although in winter!
Japanese housing typically has multiple rooms for what in Western housing is the bathroom. Separate rooms for the Japanese toilet, sink, and ofuro (bathing room) are common. It has a large iron kettle-shaped (or cauldron) bathtub called a goemonburo ("Goemon bath")which is just for one person. According to one literarure, this term is come from a semi-legendary Japanese outlaw hero named Ishikawa Goemon who were boiled alive togeteher with his son in public after their failed assassination attempt on the civil war-era warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Feel the Japanese ancient atmosphere at Doitaya!
This is my first time to visit Oasa area and also the first time for a cycling trip. I was really interested and had enjoyed all of the activities here. It was awesome. I found the goodwill with the new friends from other countries. They were all very nice people. In this trip, I rode a bicycle around the town that made me having a good feeling by its good weather, good landscape with the mountain surrounded in the countryside. I could see a rural Japanese life while I were riding the bike. Besides, there were a number of activities to participate with a local people. Through this experience, I had a chance to visit an art gallery café and get to do a wood craft by myself. Then I had enjoyed a lunch at herbs and vegetable garden. Not only having an organic lunch there but I could find a nice scene for taking the photos. Lastly, I visited an old traditional house (Doitaya) aged more than 100 years.
his is only one day experience in this area. It was a short time for me. I think I cannot discover the entire place in one day so that I will be come back again without hesitation. Thank you!
“If you like this kind of activity please come and try! It is fun for everyone”.
This one day cycling tour started with leisure ride through the beautiful small town of Oasa, then pushed the pedal a bit more through steep roads to reach the Herbs Garden, where we had the first stop for lunch. This restaurant is something not to be missed. There’ll be a delicious home-made lunch made from organic ingredients. Next, bike along the paddy field to visit a small art gallery and workshop called Polompa. This was my favorite part from this trip because I could learn to carve a wooden stamp, as well as making a bookmark. For the final stop, we visited a hidden cascade and enjoy the relaxing river stream before finishing our trip. I wish I had more time on that day so I could explore Oasa more by bike.
urban or rural, I highly recommend this activity for everyone. If you are interested, please come to Oasa! The yellow bikes are waiting for you!