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A stepping stone across the Seto Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku, Ikuchijima is an island where the gentle pace of life gets you the moment you arrive: you can’t help but slow down.
Freelance writer and editor Kate Crockett recently explored Ikuchijima as part of her trip with us to Hiroshima. Here, she writes of the island’s history of shipbuilding, octopus fishing and, famously, citrus fruits, cultivated on sunny slopes that benefit from little rainfall and a warm microclimate.
Setoda: the salt port town
Ikuchijima is the approximate mid-point of the 70 km (43-mile) Shimanami Kaido cycle route that connects Onomichi City in Hiroshima with Imabari City on Shikoku, via a series of safe, purpose-built trails and bridges that traverse six Inland Sea islands.
Being the midpoint has brought new life to an island that was – like many rural spots in Japan’s Inland Sea region – slowly depopulating. Empty homes and shops are still in evidence, but renewal is happening, particularly in the small town of Setoda.
Easily accessible from Omomichi, Setoda was once a crucial port on the Kitamae trading route between Hokkaido and Osaka. Thirty per cent of Japan’s salt was passing through Setoda in the early 1800s, bringing great wealth to the local Horiuchi family who owned a fleet of up to eight kitamaebune ships. These plied the route, transporting Setouchi salt around Japan and bringing Kyushu pottery and wood back to Setoda.
The impressive estate built on that wealth by the Horiuchi family is in the heart of Setoda and was transformed into a luxury ryokan in 2021. Named ‘Azumi Setoda’, it was created by Adrian Zecha, the visionary hotelier behind Aman Resorts. Azumi Setoda has become a destination hotel and has sparked a regeneration of Setoda that has seen new businesses spring up around the port and on the faded shotengai (shopping street), catering for a new generation of visitors.
Setting the Setoda scene
Beside the port – which has regular ferry services to Mihara and Onomichi on Honshu – the large joyato (stone lighthouse) illuminated a safe path through treacherous narrow rapids peculiar to this part of the Seto Inland sea, bringing Edo ships safely home. Goods were unloaded by hand via the steep gangi steps still visible on the portside. Nearby, the Horiuchi salt warehouse has recently received a new lease of life as an artisan coffee roastery, while former shophouses have been transformed into the casual accommodation and cafe, Soil Setoda.
Close by is the glorious sento public bath, Yubune, created by the team behind Azumi Setoda (which is opposite) and open to guests and the public. It is named after the floating bathhouse boats that chugged from village to village in the Inland Sea during the Edo period, and features beautiful mosaic murals of Inland Sea life in the soaring, gender-segregated baths. It also has its own guest bedrooms.
Setoda Town is small. With just 4,000 households, the majority of residents are over 60. It’s eminently walkable, and a stroll into the back streets behind the sento soon yields rewards, such as the remains of an ishiburo cave sauna, numerous small shrines, and an old communal well and pump that are still in use.
A trail leads up to Kojoji Temple, whose vermillion, 14th-century pagoda is recognised as a National Treasure. There are super views of Setoda town and the Inland Sea from the top, while behind the pagoda are glimpses down over a shipbuilding yard that was once a salt field. The temple itself hosts (pre-booked) zazen meditation for visitors at 7am and its approach is punctuated with “Sketch Points” where local artist Hirayama Ikuo sat to paint watercolour landscapes of his hometown (there are more elsewhere on Ikuchijima). A museum honouring him and his work is in the town centre.
Lemon Town
Setoda’s long Shiomachi (Salt Town) shotengai – once an important parade of salt warehouses and narrow merchant homes known as nagaya – has a low-key feel, with fresh energy in the form of co-working hubs and new restaurants seeping into its faded Showa charm and obvious obsession with citrus.
In the 1960s, Ikuchijima grew around 25 per cent of Japan’s lemons, and although that figure is now much reduced, the region still produces the majority of Japan’s domestic crop. Ikuchijima now prides itself on being a major grower of organic citrus, harvesting small green lemons with a crisp fragrance from October to December and the yellow crop of fleshy, juicy and mellow fruits from January to May. (It is possible for visitors to join in the harvest.) You can see these fruits sold in the shotengai, in shops fronted by elderly owners selling numerous varieties of Setoda citrus. There are also lemonade stands and a lemon gelato shop, Setoda Dolce, whose signature product is made from marine salt and Setoda lemons.
At the far end of the shotengai, friendly Fukurou restaurant serves delicious cold ‘lemon soba’ – buckwheat soba noodles topped with slices of Setoda lemon – from its homely setting with surprising high-tech menus (on iPads, in English, that make ordering a breeze). Around the corner is Shimagocoro, a famous Setoda patisserie and cafe renowned for its light and fluffy, and deliciously moist, lemon cake that was proudly served to leaders at the G7 Hiroshima Summit in 2023.
Everywhere in Setoda you get the strong lemon vibe: there are lemon-yellow post boxes; a lemon curry vending machine; the ferry is painted yellow; and the Tourist Information Centre is easily identified by the giant lemons and oranges outside.
On your bike
If you’re not already on two wheels, the centre is a good place to rent a bicycle for a day ride around town or along sections of the Shimanami Kaido. The pretty route out of Setoda route south runs along the Ikuchijima coast, past fishing quays (where you can see boats loaded with octopus pots), past Setoda Sunset Beach (where Hirayama Ikuo also stopped), then up through lemon groves. Look out for the warning signs for wild boar on the stretch through ‘Lemon Valley’: the little plump creatures are illustrated to look like four-legged lemons.
The route winds up onto the impressive Tatara Bridge, a cable-stayed suspension bridge that connects Hiroshima with Ehime prefecture. From here the views of Setouchi’s open skies, blue sea and forested islands are spectacular. There’s a rest centre on the Ehime side, then the scenic ride back to Setoda takes less than an hour.
You can read more about Kate’s Hiroshima trip in The Times.
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AloJapan.com