South Miyazaki · NichinanNo.515★Open in map →

Aburatsu Horikawa Canal

— A timber canal behind a working port

localOff the trail — and worth it

A canal cut through the port district of Aburatsu in southern Miyazaki, dug by the Obi domain so that cedar felled inland could reach the sea. Fishing boats still tie up along its stone walls, and an arched bridge crosses it.

FromMiyazaki Station
~1 hr 50 minJR Nichinan Line, 1-2 per hour
Get off atAburatsu Station (JR Nichinan Line)
On foot
Aburatsu Horikawa Canal

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Aburatsu is a fishing and cargo port rather than a sightseeing town, and most people travelling southern Miyazaki keep to the coast road for the shrines and the beaches. The canal sits behind the harbour instead of on that route, so it stays calm. It is signposted and easy to follow once you are in the district.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Horikawa Bridge and Ahiratsu Shrinez tanuki / CC BY 3.0

The canal banksa stone-walled channel where fishing boats tie up between trips
Aburatsu Red Brick Warehousea two-storey brick store built by the Kono timber family, now used for events
Horikawa Bridgean arched stone bridge by an Obi mason, known locally as Otohime Bridge
Ahiratsu Shrinethe shrine the bridge leads to, its approach path crossing the water

How to actually get there

Miyazaki Station to Aburatsu Station (JR Nichinan Line; the Umisachi-Yamasachi sightseeing express takes about an hour and a half on operating days).
Aburatsu Station to the canal (walk southeast about 10 min).
Follow the bank south past the brick warehouse to the stone bridge, then cross to the shrine.
Return along the far bank to the harbour front before walking back to the station.

JR Nichinan Line, south from Miyazaki: Miyazaki Station to Aburatsu Station on the JR Nichinan Line, then about 10 minutes on foot to the canal. Local trains run roughly one or two an hour. The Umisachi-Yamasachi sightseeing express covers the same run in about an hour and a half on the days it operates, so check its calendar before planning around it.
Return from Aburatsu Station: Walk back northwest to Aburatsu Station for a northbound service. On operating days the Umisachi-Yamasachi leaves Aburatsu at 14:17 for Miyazaki. Local departures are spread out through the day, so note the board when you arrive rather than at the end of it.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Horikawa Canal runs one street back from the working harbour of Aburatsu, on the Nichinan coast in southern Miyazaki. It was cut as an industrial shortcut. Cedar from the Obi domain's forests came down the Hirowatari River, and the channel let it reach ocean-going ships without a run around an exposed headland. The timber trade built the district around it, with sawmills, shipping agents and merchant houses on both banks. The canal also gave the port something it badly lacked, a place to tuck boats away when a typhoon comes up the coast, and it still does that job. What survives is a compact walk: water, a brick warehouse, an arched bridge and a shrine, all within a few blocks.

How to enjoy it

Do the canal as a loop on foot: down one bank to the stone bridge, across, and back along the other side past the shrine. Late morning suits it, with the boats in and the sightseeing express from Miyazaki arriving at 11:19 on the days it runs, which leaves a couple of unhurried hours before the return service. Ask at the harbour whether the wooden choro-bune boat rides are going out that day.

Background & history

Before the channel existed, timber floated down the Hirowatari River had to be taken out to sea and around a headland to reach the anchorage at Aburatsu, a short run but an exposed one. The Obi domain, whose wealth came from the cedar planted in the hills behind, cut a canal instead, and the work was finished in 1686. The stone arch now spanning it came much later, in 1903, laid by an Obi mason as the approach path to the shrine on the far bank. The waterway silted up in the post-war decades and was restored from the 1980s as a piece of the town's history.

Before you go

Cash: Nothing along the canal charges admission. The banks, the stone bridge and the shrine are open and free at any hour. The converted buildings nearby keep their own hours and are not always staffed, so treat them as a bonus rather than a plan.
Good to know: Much of the channel has no lighting after dark. The canal doubles as a shelter for fishing boats when typhoons run up the coast, so late summer and early autumn can bring rough weather to the harbour. The banks are working quaysides with mooring lines across the paving.
Another way: The Umisachi-Yamasachi calls at Miyazaki Airport Station on its way south, so you can join it straight off a flight instead of doubling back into the city.
After you get off: From Aburatsu Station, walk southeast about 10 minutes on flat streets. The water opens up once you reach the quay, and the bridge is downstream to your right.