Chomonkyo Gorge

Rurikoji Temple Five-story Pagoda is a notable visitor destination in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Check the official local source for current access, hours, closures and seasonal conditions.

Perched dramatically on Mount Shiroyama 200 meters above the historic valley town of Tsuwano, this 14th-century mountain fortress is celebrated as a 'Castle in the Sky'. Vast, weathered stone ramparts and watchtower bases command awe-inspiring aerial vistas over red-roofed townhouses and misty mountain ridges.

Tsuwano’s central heritage street combines white plaster walls, former samurai properties, historic schools and canals filled with colourful carp. Side lanes extend toward merchant storehouses and local museums.

A major Inari shrine above Tsuwano reached by a hillside tunnel of roughly one thousand vermilion torii. The upper precinct looks across the castle town and hosts important spring and autumn ceremonies.

Akiyoshidai Plateau is a notable visitor destination in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Check the official local source for current access, hours, closures and seasonal conditions.

Akiyoshido Cave is a notable visitor destination in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Check the official local source for current access, hours, closures and seasonal conditions.

A spring pond in Mine (not Beppu in Oita) whose limestone-filtered water glows cobalt blue. It is one of Japan’s 100 best waters, and people fill bottles from the spring beside the small shrine.

One of Japan's oldest shrines to Sugawara no Michizane, the god of learning, on a hill in Hofu.