Nobeoka: Castle Ruins, Two Styles of Chicken Nanban and Yabure Manju in a Miyazaki Castle Town

Nobeoka is the Miyazaki castle town where chicken nanban originated, and the dish is still served here in two styles, one with plenty of tartar sauce and one eaten plain with sweet vinegar. Above the town, the ruins of the castle that Takahashi Mototane built keep their stone walls and enclosures, with the park of Shiroyama laid out around them. Add yabure manju from the confectionery shops, three breweries making sake, shochu and craft beer, and the night view from Mount Atago, and a day here is spent looking, walking and eating.

Nobeoka Castle Ruins and Shiroyama

Nobeoka Castle ruins are a walk up through the honmaru, ninomaru and sannomaru left from the castle Takahashi Mototane built. Between the ninomaru and the honmaru rises the tall Sennin-goroshi stone wall, built to stop enemies advancing into the honmaru.

The North Otemon gate, a sturdy gateway, guards the main gate of the castle. From winter to spring about three thousand three hundred camellias bloom here in many colours, some with their own names.

Shiroyama Park is described as wrapped in stillness and greenery. In spring about three hundred cherry trees line the stone wall, lit at blossom time so the blossoms can be seen at night. On the keep platform site a bell keeper announces the time, as the bell of Shiroyama has for more than one hundred years, and from there the Gokase river flows slowly past the cityscape. If you want one place to start in Nobeoka, the castle ruins pair that river view with the Naito Memorial Museum on the Nishi-no-maru site and items handed down in the Naito family; come in spring for the blossoms, or from winter to spring for the camellias.

Chicken Nanban and the Tables of Nobeoka

Chicken nanban originated in Nobeoka, and the town serves it in two original styles: a simple one eaten plain with sweet vinegar alone, and a Western-style one with plenty of tartar sauce.

Aji no Ogura (Asahigaoka branch) is the shop where chicken nanban originated, serving juicy thigh meat topped with plenty of tartar sauce. Naochan takes the other road: prefecture-produced chicken breast coated in flour, dipped in beaten egg, fried and finished with nothing but its original sweet-vinegar sauce, with pressure-cooker rice and a miso soup of iriko and dried shiitake stock.

Karamen, a noodle soup of chili pepper, garlic, chives and beaten egg with a noodle of distinctive texture, comes next. At Minshuku Rinko it sits on a chicken-bone soup with firm konnyaku noodles and plenty of minced meat, and at Masumoto the heat can be chosen from six levels. Mehikari, a deep-sea fish of Hyuga-nada with eyes that glow emerald green, has white, light-tasting flesh and comes as karaage eaten bones and all, as sushi or salt-grilled. From September to March spiny lobster is landed in Hyuga-nada and served along the Higashi-Kyushu Ise-ebi Kaido.

If there is room for one meal, start with chicken nanban and keep the other style for a second visit; karamen suits anyone who likes to choose the heat.

Yabure Manju, Sweets and the Three Breweries

Yabure manju is the sweet to carry away: its skin is torn here and there so the bean paste shows, hence the name, and it began when a Nobeoka confectionery shop put it on sale. Cheese manju has a rich, creamy cheese flavour, and the Nobegaku pudding from Nobeoka Gakuen High School is creamy with a rich taste.

Nobeoka has three breweries, one each for sake, shochu and craft beer, and all three can be visited. Sentoku Shuzo brews with contract-grown rice and subsoil water of the Gokase river, Sato Shochu Seizojo makes shochu and liqueurs from granite-polished water and local barley, rice, sweet potato and chestnut, and Miyazaki Hideji Beer makes the craft beer.

The Nobeoka tourism and products station sits inside JR Nobeoka Station. It stocks chicken nanban products, charcoal-grilled chicken, seafood, kama-iri tea, the toy noborizaru and the sake, spirits and beer of the three breweries. If you like to compare before choosing, each brewery makes a different drink and this one shop has all three.

Mount Atago and Imayama Daishi

Mount Atago is the place to go after dark, when the night view from the observation deck sets the glitter of the urban area against the jet-black Hyuga-nada sea, and on a full moon night a moon road leads out to sea.

In myth, the heavenly grandchild Ninigi no Mikoto and Konohanasakuya-hime met and were united on Mount Atago, and near the summit today couples ring a bell of meeting and hang padlocks on a monument.

Imayama Daishi offers a different kind of climb: the Daishi statue was invited from Koyasan to save people suffering from an epidemic, and one hundred and thirty-four stone steps lead to its foot. Mount Atago is the stop for an evening, with the night view and the moon road on a full moon night, while the Daishi statue and its steps are a separate stop. If you have children along, the botanical garden in Nobeoka adds three observation decks and a composite play structure.

The Autumn Ayu Weir on the River

The ayu weir appears every autumn on a river in Nobeoka, and the weir itself is the season's reason to come. The yana fishing method has been handed down for more than three hundred years since the Edo period on the Gokase river system, and it catches ayu descending the river to spawn.

Ayu are grilled on the riverbank, and a riverside hall serves as the dining place for the autumn ayu season. If you can choose when to come, autumn, when the weir is up and the hall is serving ayu, is the season to plan around; at other times the castle hill, the chicken nanban shops and Mount Atago carry the day on their own.

If you would rather stay overnight, places to stay in Nobeoka is a place to start.

Getting to Nobeoka

The limited express runs to Nobeoka Station from Miyazaki Station and from Oita Station.

Leg	How	Time
Miyazaki Station to Nobeoka Station	Limited express Nichirin or Hyuga	About 1 hour
Oita Station to Nobeoka Station	Limited express Nichirin	About 2 hours
Miyazaki Station to Nobeoka Station bus stop	Express bus	About 2 hours 3 minutes
Nobeoka Station to Nobeoka Castle ruins and Shiroyama Park	By car	About 8 minutes
Nobeoka Station to Imayama Daishi	On foot	About 15 minutes
Nobeoka Station to Mount Atago	By car	About 20 minutes
Nobeoka Station to the botanical garden in Nobeoka	By car	About 15 minutes

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

Hours and Fees

Place	What	Hours or fee
Nobeoka Castle and Naito Memorial Museum	Opening hours	9 to 17:00, entry until 16:30
Nobeoka Castle and Naito Memorial Museum	Weekly closing day	Monday
Naochan	Business hours	Lunch 11:00 to 14:00, dinner 17:00 to 20:00
Naochan	Closed days	Tuesday, and Monday evening
Aji no Ogura (Asahigaoka branch)	Business hours	11:00 to 15:00 and 17:00 to 20:30
Aji no Ogura (Asahigaoka branch)	Closing day	Wednesday
Imayama Daishi	Prayer reception	9:00 to 16:00
Nobeoka tourism and products station	Business hours	8:30 to 17:30
Botanical garden in Nobeoka	Hours	8:30 to 17:15