Hiwasa: An Unhurried Seaside Day in a Pilgrim Temple Town

This guide covers Yakuo-ji, Sakuramachi Street, Ohama Beach, the Caretta sea turtle museum and the castle hill, with the routes, times and fees you need.

In Hiwasa you can climb a long stone stairway between white plaster walls to a red and white pagoda on its stone terrace, watch a sea turtle swim in an outdoor seawater pool, look down on a beach curving below green hills, and see a keep on a wooded hilltop. All of it sits in the same coastal town.

The notes below take the town in a walking order, then explain how to get there. Times and prices are collected in the tables at the end, so you can compare them at a glance and plan your day around the stops you want most.

Arriving in a Pilgrim Temple Town

From Tokushima Station, a limited express takes sixty minutes to reach Hiwasa Station. That ride is the only long leg of the day, because the temple, the old street, the beach and the sea turtle museum can all be reached on foot from the station.

From Hiwasa Station it is a ten-minute walk to Yakuo-ji, the temple that gives the town its pilgrim character. The old street, the beach, the sea turtle museum and the castle hill follow in turn, so the day can be planned as a slow loop that starts and ends at the station.

Yakuo-ji and Its Yaku-zaka Stairs

Yakuo-ji is described as the twenty-third temple on the Shikoku pilgrimage and a place where visitors come to ward off misfortune. The temple has three stairways called yaku-zaka, with thirty-three steps on the women's yaku-zaka, forty-two on the men's and sixty-one on the kanreki yaku-zaka.

The temple bell is rung twelve times at six in the morning and again in the evening. The hot spring of Yakuo-ji Onsen is open from noon to eight in the evening and closed on Tuesdays and Fridays, so it suits the end of a day of walking.

Sakuramachi Street and the Old Town Lanes

The lane in front of the temple gate, Sakuramachi Street, is described in guidebooks as a place to stroll, with distinctive cafes, eateries and souvenir shops that have gathered there in recent years. It is the natural place to slow down between the temple and the sea.

For local produce and gifts, Michi-no-Eki Hiwasa is a useful stop. Its gift hall is open every day of the year, from nine in the morning to half past five in the afternoon. Its produce hall is open from half past nine in the morning to half past five in the afternoon.

Ohama Beach and the Sea Turtle Museum

Guidebooks describe Ohama Beach as a sandy beach where loggerhead turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The beach is about one and a half kilometres from Hiwasa Station, a walk of about twenty minutes.

A volunteer guide service for the Ohama Beach course is free of charge, and the walk takes about forty minutes. Guide hours are listed in the last table, and the service is an easy way to learn the beach without planning a route yourself.

The Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta is also about twenty minutes on foot from the station. The museum is closed on Mondays, or the next day when Monday is a public holiday, and its admission prices are in the last table.

Hiwasa Castle and the Ebisu-do Cave

Hiwasa Castle is a walk of about twenty minutes from Hiwasa Station, or about five minutes by taxi. The keep is shut for seismic reasons and the grounds cannot be entered, so the castle can only be viewed from outside, near the parking area of the hilltop park.

The Ebisu-do cave is about forty minutes on foot from Hiwasa Station, or about ten minutes by taxi. It is described as a natural cave that the waves carved inside a rocky hill. Together, the castle hill and the cave make an optional extension to the day, best added once the temple and the beach are done.

Getting There

Hiwasa Station is the base for the whole day, and each leg is timed in the table below. Drivers can use the Yakuo-ji parking lot, which has space for five hundred cars and is free of charge. Visitors flying in take the bus from Tokushima Airport to Tokushima Station first.

Item	Detail
Tokushima Station to Hiwasa Station by limited express	60 minutes
Tokushima Airport to Tokushima Station by bus	25 minutes
Hiwasa Station on foot to Yakuo-ji	10 minutes
Hiwasa Station on foot to Ohama Beach	about 1.5 kilometres, about 20 minutes
Hiwasa Station by taxi to Ohama Beach	about 5 minutes
Hiwasa Station on foot to the Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta	20 minutes
Hiwasa Station to Hiwasa Castle	about 20 minutes on foot or about 5 minutes by taxi
Hiwasa Station to the Ebisu-do cave	about 40 minutes on foot or about 10 minutes by taxi

New to rural buses and one-man trains? See how to ride them, step by step.

Hours and Fees

The table below lists the visiting times, closed days and adult prices for the main stops, so you can plan the order of your day.

Item	Detail
Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta viewing hours	9:00 to 17:00
Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta closed days	Mondays (the next day when Monday is a public holiday)
Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta year-end closure	December 29 to 31
Hiwasa Sea Turtle Museum Caretta adult admission, including high school students	1,000 yen
Yakuo-ji Onsen adult bath fee, junior high school students and older	650 yen
Yakuo-ji Onsen hours	12:00 to 20:00, closed Tuesdays and Fridays
Michi-no-Eki Hiwasa produce hall hours	9:30 to 17:30
Michi-no-Eki Hiwasa gift hall hours	9:00 to 17:30, no closing days
Volunteer guide service hours for the Ohama Beach course	10:00 to 15:00 in principle

If you would like to stay a night and see the town at a slower pace, look at places to stay in Hiwasa.