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Peace Pagoda and Ushita Yama
Length: 3-5 hours
Highest Point: 261m
Close to the center of the city, this trail is very easy to get to.
While no walk in the
park, other than a few steep sections, it's very
"doable". There are great views all along, and
there are "escape routes" from where you can catch
a bus, or taxi back to the city or the station.
Depending on how long you linger at various places
on the way the whole walk should take between 3 and
5 hours to complete.
Start point: Hiroshima Shinkansen Station
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With the Shinkansen Station behind you cross toward
the mountain-side of the busy road at the traffic
signal in front of the Granvia Hotel, go left for
about 150m and then right at the next traffic
signal (at the J-Shop store). Go straight to the
end of this road. You should be be able to see your
first target - the Silver Peace Pagoda
(Bushari-to) up on the top of the heavily forested
Futaba-yama up ahead (Picture 1).
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Picture 1 |
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At the end of this road go left and you'll see
Toushougu Shrinealmost immediately on the
left. Originally built in the mid-17th Century, but
almost completely destroyed by the A-bomb, the
reconstructed shrine is through a large torii gate
at the top of some steep stone steps (Pictures 2
and 3).
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Picture 2 |
Picture 3 |
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Make your way around the back of Toushougu Shrine
(by way of the road) and you'll see another flight
of steps flanked by bright orangy-red lanterns and
several torii gates - this is the entrance to
Kinkou Inari Shrine (Picture 4). This shrine
is very popular for wishing for prosperity in
business and harmony in th home. Large Spring and
Autumn festivals are held on April 1st and November
1st, and rites are carried out on the 1st and 15th
of every month.
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Picture 4 |
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When you reach the shrine at the top of the steps
to the right you can see a tunnel of torii gates
going up the hill (Picture 5). The steep stone
steps, flanked by beech trees, take you up towards
the pagoda (about 600m from here).
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Picture 5 |
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About half way, just off the trail to the left
there's a small clearing with a shrine and a
sheltered platform where you can take a breather.
There are also two huge rocks here into which
another small shrine guarded by two statues of
what look like hounds. If you climb up behind these
rocks you can get your first good view of the city
that already seems far below (Picture 6).
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Picture 6 |
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Back on the trail the steps now give way to a more
forgiving dirt trail with some clambering over the
odd tree root. There seem to be a few trails around
here, but you basically head right and keep going
up. In a few minutes you hit the last few steps up
to the peace pagoda (Picture 7).
The Peace Pagoda was built in 1966 to commemorate
the lives lost in the A-bomb blast, and contains
gifts of Buddha's ashes from the then Prime
Minister of India and mongolian Buddhists. There's
a great view over the city and out to the islands
of the Inland Sea, making the walk up to here is
rewarding in itself. You have several options from
here; you can return the way you came, you can take
the road down to the Station, or if your legs don't
feel adequately stretched you can see the next
mountain on the trail, Onaga-yama, above a cluster of white
buildings (Picture 8).
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Picture 7 |
Picture 8 |
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Whichever you choose you deserve a rest and some
refreshment. Take the road down from the pagoda,
rejoin the trail which you'll soon see on your left
and brings you out into a new housing development.
Walk past the houses and you'll come to an
intersection. Directly opposite is a parking area
where you'll find
Napoli Napoli, a great Italian restaurant with excellent pizza, and a lovely
terrace overlooking the city.
Energy replenished, the trail over
Onaga-yama and on to Ushita-yama
awaits. Depending on your pace this ridge walk can
takes between 1 and 2 hours, and there's nothing to
drink so it might be worth picking up something
from the vending machines at the Napoli Napoli parking lot.
To get to the trail walk up the steep road that
runs beside the Bangi parking lot. Follow the road
around the first left curve and you'll see a sign
at the start of the trail on the next bend
(Pictures 9 and 10).
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Picture 9 | 
Picture 10 |
The trail up to Onaga-yama is really quite steep and is a
bit of a scramble, but the effort is worth it.
When you get to the rock outcrop that is Onaga-yama
(180m) the view just gets better. Look back now you
are actually overlooking the Peace Pagoda - great
view if you can ignore the well placed power lines
(Picture 11). There's a trail down to Hiroshima
Station to the right (with your back to the pagoda)
and to the right continues on to Ushita-yama.
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Picture 11 |
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From here the trail is wonderful, gently undulating
and shaded by trees which clear every now and then
offering views over Ushita. There's a small hut a
used for surveying birds where you can take a rest,
and just when you've almost forgotten you're just
a couple of kilometers away from the center of town
... wham, bang! Two huge pylons! Oh well...
Keep following the trail, passing by several signs
showing paths down, and after one more set of steep
steps you reach the peak of Ushita-yama (261m).
Quite a large clearing, there are a few benches and
a make shift shelter, and even some bars where you can do some pull-ups!
There are more great views on three sides to the
North, South and West (Pictures 12 and 13).
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Picture 12 | 
Picture 13 |
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Heading down now, you pass a small thin sign for an
old and tough going trail down to Ushita Waseda
Elementary School, and soon come to a division in
the trail (Picture 14). The path to the left will
take you on to Kanda-yama., the one to the
left will take down to Fudoin Temple (from where
you can access the Astram Line.
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Picture 14 |
Picture 15
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Going left you come to another shelter with more
nice views and another signpost (Picture 15). A
short walk in the direction of Ushita Waseda (the
trail to the left) brings you to a rock outcrop
which has even better views of the city, and you
can clearly see the crescent-shaped ridge you've
walked from Futaba-yama.
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From here the trail descends quite steeply down into Ushita Waseda
from where it is a 5-10min walk to the Ushita
Hon-machi bus stop (next to the San-belmo shopping
center) from where there are plenty of buses into
town or to Hiroshima Station.
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Here is a short video of the trail and sights along the way from Al Pizzo to the top of the pagoda, down the path toward the shrine and back up (20 minutes)
It gives you a good idea of what the trial is like and the views you can see from the top next to the pagoda.
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