Hello!
I’m Daiji Okuno, a freelance writer and blogger based in Tokyo.
The Kurashiki Tocotoco editorial team asked me, “Try coming to Kurashiki from Tokyo for a casual visit and see where a man in his 40s would go!” So I spent some time exploring Kurashiki!
The mission was to decide roughly where to go and then wander around the area—a simple idea in some ways, but actually quite challenging.
Here’s the first day.
I spent plenty of time exploring the area around Entsu-ji Temple, where Ryokan spent a long period training in his youth.
▼Find the other “Strolling around Kurashiki Tocotoco from Tokyo” articles here!
- Day 2: A leisurely stroll from JR Kurashiki Station to the Bikan Historical Area late at night
- Day 3: From the Bikan Historical Area to Mabi, which was hit by torrential rain
The information in this article was current when it was published in December 2019. Please note that it may differ from current information.
Visiting Entsu-ji Temple, where Ryokan trained
Entsu-ji Temple is a Soto Zen Buddhist temple located about 4 kilometers from Shin-Kurashiki Station.
A sacred site was established here about 1,200 years ago by the Buddhist priest Gyoki, and the temple itself is said to have been founded in 1698.
In 1698, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, known as the “Dog Shogun,” was ruling Japan.
The Ako ronin stormed Kira’s mansion in 1702, so the temple was built in that era.
There are many temples called “Entsuji” throughout Japan. In Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, there is an Entsuji known for its garden, while in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, there is an Entsuji that also appeared in the popular historical novel series “Onihei Hankacho.”
Kurashiki’s Entsu-ji Temple is famous as the place where the priest Ryokan, also renowned as a poet and calligrapher, stayed and trained for an extended period from the age of 22.
There is a tourist information center inside Shin-Kurashiki Station, where staff kindly explained how to get to Entsu-ji Temple and the available transportation options.
I believe the best way to get to know a place is on foot, but I took a taxi from Shin-Kurashiki Station to Entsu-ji Temple.
The fare was just under 1,800 yen.
My plan was to save the pleasure of walking for later and save time on the way there.
It was around the time the leaves were just beginning to turn red at Entsu-ji Temple.
I headed farther in, passing the main hall watched over by a statue of Ryokan and Ryokando, where Ryokan is said to have slept, lived, and trained.
There are 33 Kannon statues here, and some visitors enjoy making a pilgrimage to see them all.
I wasn’t able to see them all, but each Kannon watched over the grounds with a completely different expression and appearance. I never tired of wandering around, wondering which one I would encounter next.
Partway through the Kannon pilgrimage, I looked toward the sea from a hilltop and saw the islands of the Seto Inland Sea floating hazily beyond the industrial area.
Kurashiki is home to the massive Mizushima Industrial Complex.
You can get around by car, and if you’re a fan of factories, it would be fun to tour the factory night views after dark.
Walking through Tamashima’s streets, which feel like the Showa era!
From Entsu-ji Temple, I walked down the mountain, taking a detour from Shin-Kurashiki Station, and explored Tamashima.
Tamashima apparently still has such an authentic Showa-era streetscape that it was even used as a filming location for the movie “ALWAYS: Sunset on Third Street.”
Following the road downhill from the front of Ryokanso, a hot spring and lodging facility, I could look down on houses with tiled roofs.
Some were private homes, so it was difficult to include photos of them…
Looking at the front of the building with the “outside staircase,”
“Cheerful Pistachio”??
It seems it was the entrance to a cafe.
If it had been open, this would have been a nice place to take a break.
By the roadside was a stone monument marking “The birthplace of the Okayama Prefectural Customs Office: Former Tamashima Customs House.”
The presence of a customs house also means this was a center of commerce.
It was once the port of the Bitchu-Matsuyama Domain, so it must have been a place where people, goods, and money came and went.
There was also a nostalgic red postbox.
Tamashima has an area known as the “Okayama Prefecture-designated Tamashima Streetscape Preservation District,” where the old-fashioned atmosphere still remains.
It was simply fun to walk along this alley…
The former village office had become a miso and soy sauce shop.
I wonder if the building with the “yu” sign used to be a public bath.
I wonder if it’s still open.
The two doors at the front must have been the entrances to the men’s and women’s baths.
The public baths I see in Tokyo have a single entrance, with the men’s and women’s sections separated around the shoe lockers.
I’ve never seen a bathhouse with separate entrances like this.
Haguro Shrine is situated on a small hill.
Looking around the back, there’s a ramp beyond the large torii gate, and what seems to be a restaurant on the shrine grounds…
How wonderfully free-spirited.
Enjoy local oden and yakisoba! A visit to Otayan Shokudo
I visited Tori-machi Shopping Street, which seems to be a well-known shopping street in Tamashima.
All the advertisements posted at the entrance are wonderfully nostalgic.
That Oronamin C poster is from when I was a kid.
It’s amazing that it has survived in such good condition.
About halfway down the shopping street was Otayan Shokudo, a place that travelers often visit.
The restaurant is also full of Showa-era atmosphere, so I went right in.
When I asked the owner what he recommended, he told me they had local dishes called Tamashima oden and Karasu Tengu yakisoba, so I ordered those.
I wondered what to choose for my oden ingredients…
Huh??
Castella?
Me: “What do you mean, castella?”
Owner: “You’ll understand when you try it.”
So I ordered egg, daikon, and castella oden.
The daikon and egg were both thoroughly soaked with oden broth and incredibly delicious!
And the castella in question had a curious appearance.
It was barely sweet, and tasted like a slightly firm sponge soaked through with plenty of oden broth.
As I ate, thinking how unusual it tasted, the owner kindly brought me some castella before it was made into oden. How kind!
The castella itself was not very sweet to begin with, and its sponge was so hard that I broke a pair of disposable chopsticks trying to cut it.
It was an interesting ingredient in its own right, quite unlike the castella you eat as a snack.
Next, I tried the “Karasu Tengu yakisoba” (500 yen).
This yakisoba takes its “crow” name from nearby Haguro Shrine, and is distinguished by its black noodles made with squid ink.
When I lifted the noodles with my chopsticks, they looked like some kind of seaweed—but they were absolutely delicious.
The noodles were chewy, and the meat had plenty of flavor while the vegetables had a satisfying crunch.
“If you like, try adding this. It’s a super-spicy sauce made by a local shop.”
The sauce he brought out was really delicious.
I can handle very spicy food, so it made a great accent to the dish.
As I was leaving, I asked him which company made the sauce.
Buy souvenirs at Tate Sauce
The sauce recommended by the owner of Otayan Shokudo is made by Teshimaya, a company headquartered in Tamashima.
I heard that I could buy it directly, so I decided to visit the head office.
The building itself has a wonderful historic feel!
“Hello. I tried your sauce at Otayan Shokudo and loved it, so I came by.”
When I said that and went in, the company president came out to greet me personally and let me sample several of their products.
The sesame sauce and salted sauce were all delicious, but the standout was the hormone barbecue sauce.
Okayama has a local B-grade gourmet dish called Tsuyama hormone udon (though not in Kurashiki). I wonder if the sauce borrows its name from that?
It has an irresistible richness, and I knew I had to use it for yakiniku when I got home!
They also have an online shop, so I can order more.
Even though my feet should have been tired from walking, I was in such a good mood that I walked about five kilometers to Shin-Kurashiki Station.
The road was almost entirely straight, with no hills, and easy to walk.
Savor Okayama’s local sake and cuisine at “Ura Kitchen Manmaya, Kurashiki Branch”
I returned to JR Kurashiki Station, where I was staying.
I left my bags at the hotel, then took a bath and a nap to rest my feet after walking nearly 30,000 steps, before heading out into the night.
For travelers looking to try local specialties, the quickest approach is often to carefully seek out restaurants with menus displayed outside.
I went into “Ura Kitchen Manmaya, Kurashiki Branch”, located in one corner of the arcade near the station.
I took a seat at the counter and flipped through the menu.
The menu featured Okayama specialties, so I started with mamakari pickled in black vinegar and raw octopus sashimi and octopus tempura from Shimotsui, a famous octopus-producing area.
Then the owner behind the counter asked me:
“Where are you visiting from?”
I hadn’t said I was a traveler, and since I’d just come from my hotel, I was dressed like someone who’d simply stepped out for a stroll nearby. How did he know?
“Oh, you can tell I’m a traveler? I’m from Tokyo.”
I replied, and he said:
“Most customers who order mamakari are visitors (smiling).”
That’s what he said.
Oh, I see.
It’s true that there are local specialties that locals don’t order very often, even though they’re famous in the area.
I heard that people may eat mamakari at home, but don’t go out of their way to order it at restaurants.
Everything from the sea that came out was delicious.
Mamakari is a fish known as “sappa” in the Kanto region.
I don’t eat it much back home, but it’s often served pickled as an Okayama specialty.
The tartness really hit the spot after all that walking.
The octopus from Shimotsui was truly outstanding!
Apparently, the catch isn’t very large, so it’s not something you can easily find outside the prefecture.
What surprised me among the condiments they brought out was the sesame oil with salt served for the octopus sashimi.
This combination is something I’ve often enjoyed with horse sashimi and, before it was banned, liver sashimi—but octopus with salted sesame oil? What a revelation!
The distinctive aroma of octopus goes well with sesame oil.
Ah, this is the kind of thing that makes you want to keep drinking.
Until now, I thought plum paste was the best thing to eat with octopus sashimi.
But the combination of sesame oil and salt seems to be giving it a real run for its money.
I’m delighted to have another way to enjoy octopus sashimi.
The deep-fried octopus is fantastic, too.
Perhaps because the salt for dipping is so finely ground, I was able to fully enjoy the crisp coating and the chewy texture of the octopus.
Shimotsui octopus is delicious. I’d love to have it again during this trip.
“Since you’ve come all the way from Tokyo, you probably haven’t had much of this, have you? We have sawara (Spanish mackerel) sashimi.”
They recommended something that wasn’t on the menu.
Of course, I ordered it.
The pink flesh had a pleasantly chewy texture, and the generous fat was sweet. I was able to fully savor the bounty of the Seto Inland Sea.
The pleasure of being served something that isn’t on the menu made it taste twice as good.
I’m glad I ordered mamakari and got recognized as a traveler.
There were eight varieties of Okayama sake, a good selection for travelers.
They also had sake from Kurashiki.
I tried several kinds, and the standouts were Sanko Hinokuchi genshu, a strong 20% alcohol, and Daiten Shiragiku Daiginjo, which costs an astonishing ¥3,000 for a 1-go serving!
Sanko Hinokuchi is an interesting sake packaged in a can, and at 20% alcohol, it’s quite strong even for genshu.
Those who aren’t good with alcohol should be careful with this one.
Daiten Shiragiku Daiginjo was in a class of its own.
It was light and soft, with a distinct but gentle aroma. It had an elegant fragrance both when I sipped it and as it went down, and was wonderfully crisp.
You don’t get to drink something like this every day!
I may not often get the chance to drink sake of this caliber, but I strongly felt that I’d love to have it again if I came across it at a local sake shop.
A first day spent savoring Tamashima and dancing with delight over octopus
As we enjoyed Kurashiki’s bounty, the delightful evening passed by.
This is just my own impression, but when I thought of Kurashiki, I pictured the area stretching from JR Kurashiki Station to the Bikan Historical Area.
And when it came to food, I thought of kibidango.
It was a vague impression, like calling the area around Nakasu in Fukuoka “Hakata” and referring to all tonkotsu ramen as Hakata ramen.
But my visit to Tamashima made me realize that Kurashiki City faces the sea.
And it was an unexpected pleasure to enjoy food that confirmed this is a seaside city, including delicious Shimotsui octopus.
Also, in Tokyo, it’s hard to find restaurants where you can enjoy a wide selection of Tokyo’s local sake.
Even at places that call themselves “local sake bars,” you can often drink famous local sake from all over Japan, but I hardly know of any that gather and serve sake from Tokyo’s breweries.
When you visit a region, you want to enjoy its local sake and cuisine.
It made me wonder what we could offer people from Kurashiki if they came to Tokyo.
My first day in Kurashiki drew to a close after I’d fully savored its history, streetscapes, and delicious food.
Coming up next
Next time, I’ll take a leisurely stroll from JR Kurashiki Station to the Bikan Historical Area late at night!
I’ll start the morning with Kurashiki’s famous Bukkake udon to fuel up, then watch an open match in the shogi title tournament, the Oyama Meijin Cup Kurashiki Toka-sen.
I also visited the “Yasuharu Oyama Memorial Museum” while I was there.
And at night, I’ll once again savor Shimotsui octopus.
After enjoying a few drinks, I’ll walk through the Bikan Historical Area at night and take in its beauty.
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