Rio's Info on Wakayama City

This page gives you basic information of tourist sites in Wakayama City.

Contents

Wakayama Castle

Access

  • The castle is situated in the center of the city.
  • The distance from JR Wakayama Station is around 1.6 kilometer (1 mile).
  • The distance from Nankai Wakayama-shi Station is around 1 kilometer (0.6 miles).
  • Bus services are frequently operated from the two railway stations. Please get off your bus at Wakayama-jo-mae Bus Stop.

History

  • The first castle tower called "tenshu" in Japanese was built in the 16th century.
  • The second one was rebuilt in the 19th century was destroyed in the air raid during the World War II in 1945.
  • The present one was rebuit with reinforced concrete in 1958. The external appearance is precisely the same as the second one.

Characteristics

  • You can go up to the top of the tenshu tower and enjoy a great view there. The tower has a museum inside it. (410 yen.)
  • The stone walls of the castle are highly evaluated because at least three different styles are seen there.
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Waka-no-ura Area

Access

  • The area is in the southern part of the city.
  • The distance from JR Wakayama Station is around 7 kilometers (4.4 miles).
  • Bus services to Waka-no-ura area are operated from the railway station and there are some different bus routes to the area. You can check the information about the bus routes at Wakayama Bus. As the number of the bus services is limited, taxis may be much more convenient.

History

  • The area was already well known among aristocrats in the capital of Nara as a scenic spot in the 8th century. Courts poets comped tanka poems to praise the beauty of the place. Tanka poems are also called waka poems in Japanese and waka means "Japanese song." The name "waka" became the origin of the place name of Wakayama, which means "waka mountain." The place name "Waka-no-ura" means "inlet of waka."
  • Waka-no-ura was also an important place for the lords of Wakayama Castle in the Edo period. The Tokugawa family in Kii Domain built Kishu- tosho-gu, a shrine dedicated to the founders Ieyasu and Yorinobu.
  • The coast area became a major tourist destination for those live in the Kansai area including Osaka in the late 19th century and it attracted a lot of visitors until the 1960's. The Japanese road system in those days was not as good as today, this area which was relatively close to the populated area was one of the first choices for a lot of vacationers.

Characteristics

  • The number of visitors to Waka-no-ura has been greatly decreased, but the charm of the area has not changed at all. Especially for those who like hiking, walking course in the area is a good place to enjoy comfortable walking and visiting attractive spots as follows.
  • You can enjoy a beautiful ocean view at Saigasaki Lighthouse. This spot is designated as a part of the Setonaikai National Park.
  • You can walk down through houses of a community of Saigasasaki Fishing Port and then walk along a pleasant seaside esplanade to Ta-no-ura Fishing port at the food of Takozushi-yama.
  • Walking-up route to the top of Takoushi-yama may be steep a little bit, but the way is less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles). You must be satisfied with the 360-degree view from the peak of Takazushi-yama. The name "Takozushi" means "a shape of an octopus head" in Japanese.
  • A hiking path through woods from the observatory to Waka-ura Tenmangu Shrine is beautiful.
  • Waka-ura Tenmangu Shrine is one my favorite places. Every time I visit the shrine, I am always moved to see the traditional wooden building of the shrine built about 400 years ago.
  • Kishu Toshogu Shrine was founded by Yorinobu Tokugawa, the tenth son of Ieyasu (the first shogun of the Tokugawa government), to enshrine his father in 1619. The walls of the wooden building have colorful sculptures which are just like those of Nikko Toshogu in Tochigi Prefecture.
  • Tamatsu-shima Shrine originally started in the 8th century, when Emperor Shomu, who built the Great Buddha in the 8th century, and praised the beautiful scenery. Four deities including a deity for waka poetry are enshrined here. The area has another traditional shrine located under a rock, and a stone bridge made in the Edo period just in front of Tamatsu-shima Shrine.
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Kii-fudoki-no-oka Museum

Access

  • The museum is located around 3.4 kilometers (2.1 miles) away from JR Wakayama Station in the east. You can go there by bus. Please check the bus schedule at at Wakayama Bus. But please be careful! The bust stop at JR Wakayama Station is at EAST ENTRANCE. The name of your destination bus stop is Kii-fudoki-no-oka, of course. As the number of buses is limited (around once every hour), taking a taxi may be a good idea.

History

  • Kii-fudoki-no-oka is the name of the prefectural museum situated by a large cluster of kofun tumuli, "Iwase-senzuka."
  • Tumuli (ancient tombs) built in the 3rd to 7th century is called "kofun" in Japanese. Iwase-senzuka Kofun Tumuli has more than 900 kofun tumuli built in the 4th to 6th century. 27 of the kofun tumuli located in the area are keyhole-shaped ones and many others are smaller round ones.
  • People buried in the tombs are estimated to be those who were from a ruling class in the Kinokawa Plain. which is at the mouth of the Kinokawa River and was a granary.

Characteristics

  • What is the most different from other simillar kofun sites is that you can enter some of the stone chambers freely. You will directly feel the mysterious atomosphere whch has been kept for more than 1,500 years there.
  • Each stone chamber has retained its original shape built with local greenish stones.
  • The museum has precious exhibition of clay figures called "haniwa" which were on the keyhole-shaped tumuli.
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Kada Area

Access

  • You can go to Kada by train. Nankai Kada Line reaches Kada Station from Namba in Osaka City or Wakayama-shi Station in Wakayama City.
  • You can walk around the area from the station.

History

  • Kada is a traditional fishing port with a long history from the ancient times.
  • Awashima Shrine is said to have been founded around 1700 years ago.
  • In the Meiji period, around 100 years ago, gun batteries were built at Tomo-ga-shima Island and the coast of Kada to defend Osaka Bay.

Characteristics

  • Awashima Shrine has deities including one to protect women and girls. Dolls whch had been used to decorate girls festival (hina-matsuri) have been moved to the shrine. You can see many different types of dolls there.
  • Ruins of gun batteries build with bricks have become very popular among young people who like to feel the atmosphere.
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Kimii-dera Buddhist Temple

Access

  • JR Kimii-dera Station is around 700 meters (0.4 miles) away from the entrance of Kimii-dera Temple. A bus stop named Kimii-dera-mae is 100 meters aways from the temple.

History

  • It is said that a monk from China founded the temple about 1250 years ago.

Characteristics

  • The temple has been popular among the common people as the second destination of the Pilgrimage to 33 Kannon Temples in Kansai since the middle ages.
  • Kimii-dera Temle is also very famous for its beautiful cherry blossoms in April.
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Yosuien Garden

Access

  • This Japanese garden is located by a fishing port which is around 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) away in the south-west from Wakayama Castle.
  • Wakayama Bus has a bus service to the nearby bus stoped named Yosuien-mae. Taking a taxi might be more convenient for those who have next destinations.

History

  • Harutomi, the 10th lord of the Wakayama Tokugawa family, ordered to build this beautiful garden in the eary 19th century.Castle It is said that a monk from China founded the temple about 1250 years ago.

Characteristics

  • Yosuien Garden was a kind of a second house for lords of Wakayama Caslte. You can enjoying a comfortable walking just like the lords did.
  • The garden is designed so that sea comes into the pods.
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