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Shimanami Kaido

— The island-hopping cycle road out of Imabari

natureThe classic — done right

A cycling and walking road that crosses the Seto Inland Sea on bridges between Hiroshima and Ehime. Its Shikoku end is Sunrise Itoyama in Imabari, where the rental bikes, the blue guide line and the climb onto the Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge all begin.

FromImabari Station (JR)
~25 minBus from Imabari, then on foot
Get off atTenbodai-iriguchi bus stop (Oura and Ohama bus)
On foot
Shimanami Kaido

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

The lane up to Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridgeredlegsfan21 / CC BY-SA 2.0

Sunrise Itoyamathe city-run cycling terminal by the bus stop, where rental bikes are handed out
Kurushima-Kaikyo Observation Halla free hall on the hill explaining the triple suspension bridge and the Murakami sea lords
The strait from Itoyama Parkships threading between the islands and passing under the bridge deck
The lane up to the bridgethe bicycle and pedestrian way, separated from traffic, climbing on a gentle gradient to deck height
Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridgeabout four kilometres of roadway, the world's first bridge of three suspension spans in a row

How to actually get there

JR Imabari Station → Tenbodai-iriguchi (bus bound for Oura and Ohama).
Tenbodai-iriguchi → Sunrise Itoyama (short walk; rental bicycles are handed out here).
Sunrise Itoyama → Kurushima-Kaikyo Observation Hall and the Itoyama Park viewpoint (walk up the hill).
Follow the blue line onto the bicycle and pedestrian lane and out over the Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge.

Oura and Ohama bus from Imabari Station: From JR Imabari Station, take the bus bound for Oura and Ohama and get off at Tenbodai-iriguchi. The ride is a little over twenty minutes. Departures are few, a handful a day and fewer again on Sundays and holidays, so check the timetable before you set out rather than turning up at the stop.
Return bus to Imabari Station: The same route runs back from Tenbodai-iriguchi to Imabari Station, and the gaps between services are long, so note the return times when you arrive. If you have rented a bicycle, riding back into central Imabari is the other way home rather than waiting at the stop.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

The Shimanami Kaido links Onomichi in Hiroshima with Imabari in Ehime across a chain of islands in the Seto Inland Sea. On every bridge, a lane for bicycles and pedestrians is built apart from the car lanes, and the recommended cycling route runs about 70 kilometres end to end. Sunrise Itoyama is the Shikoku end of it, a cycling terminal run by Imabari City that sits directly beneath the Kurushima-Kaikyo Bridge with rental bikes, a restaurant and a view straight down the strait. The blue guide line painted along the route starts here.

How to enjoy it

The observation hall keeps daytime hours, open until 18:00 for most of the year and until 17:00 from December through February, so put the exhibits first if the light is going. With only an afternoon, ride or walk out onto the first span and turn back partway. For the full route, the rental system lets you leave the bike at another terminal, Onomichi among them, so there is no need to double back.

Background & history

The Kurushima Strait is counted with Naruto and Kanmon among the hardest passages in Japanese waters, its channels narrow and its tide quick. In the medieval period they were held by the Murakami sea lords, whose story the hall at Itoyama tells alongside the engineering overhead. The bridge across the strait opened in 1999, and with it the run between Onomichi and Imabari became continuous. The blue guide line came later still, painted onto roads that were already there rather than laid down with the bridges.

Before you go

Cash: The observation hall and the park cost nothing to enter. Bicycles cross the bridges free of charge under a scheme called Shimanami Cycling Free, run by the expressway company together with Hiroshima and Ehime prefectures; mopeds are not covered by it. Rental bicycles and the terminal's other services are paid separately.
Good to know: The observation hall shuts for the new year, from 29 to 31 December. The lane on the bridge is open on all sides and high above the water, so wind matters more here than rain, and the strait below runs fast enough to be a working hazard for shipping.
Another way: From the Hiroshima side, the same route starts at Onomichi and comes down from the north. The blue line is marked for that direction too, with distance posts every kilometre counting down toward Sunrise Itoyama. By car, Imabari-kita is the nearest interchange and the park has its own car park.
After you get off: Tenbodai-iriguchi sits on the road below the park. Sunrise Itoyama is a short walk from the stop, and the path up to the observation hall and the viewpoint carries on from there.