Tomonoura
鞆の浦34°23′ N 133°23′ EPortPop. 3,500Setouchi
Tomonoura suits slow travellers who want an Edo-era tide port with a round harbour and red sea bream, and it sits a bus ride from the Shinkansen, away from the cycling route.
Photo KimonBerlin · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 and others, credited in the gallery
Who should base here
Stay a night in Tomonoura to see the harbour after the day buses leave.
Tomonoura sits on the southern tip of the Numakuma Peninsula, 14 km south of Fukuyama Station. Ships once waited here for the tides to turn in the middle of the Inland Sea, which earned it the name of the port of waiting for tides. The round harbour survived modern port works and is protected inside Tomo Park, part of the Setonaikai National Park, and the Man'yoshu already held eight poems about it.
Sakamoto Ryoma's ship, the Iroha Maru, sank off Tomo, and the town is known for red sea bream fishing. About 3,500 people lived here in 2017. Temples and shrines crowd the lanes, among them Nunakuma Shrine.
Quick answers about Tomonouraよくある質問
Is Tomonoura a good place to stay?
Stay a night in Tomonoura to see the harbour after the day buses leave.