Udo Jingu, the shrine in a sea cavePhoto: MaedaAkihiko / CC BY-SA 4.0
Udo Jingu's hall stands inside a cave on Cape Udo, and the cape was named a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2017.
- Getting there
- 14 km north: taxi about 20 min, about ¥5,200 each way (our estimate), then about 20 min on foot from the tourist car park. Miyazaki Kotsu bus from Aburatsu about 25 min, ¥740 (08:10, 10:40, 12:40 weekdays only, 15:05; back 11:07, 12:37, 14:57, 16:47 weekdays only)
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
A vermilion main hall built inside a sea cave at the tip of Cape Udo, with the Pacific breaking on the rocks below. From the terrace you throw clay luck stones at a turtle-shaped rock, men with the left hand and women with the right. Gates 06:00–18:00, grounds free. The road to the two near car parks has collapsed, so allow about 20 minutes on foot from the tourist car park.
- Number 1 of ten on our list for Aburatsu.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Yes" — add Sun Messe Nichinan, 4 km further on, if it is not a Wednesday.
- 06:00–18:00 — gate times; grounds free.
- 3 hr door to door needs a 5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Things worth knowing
- Keep the taxi or agree a pickup time: no taxi rank at the shrine is confirmed.
- The paths and stairs down to the cave are steep in places; allow longer with limited mobility.
- Gates close at 18:00; all three 2027 Diamond Princess calls leave the port by 19:00.
Udo Jingu, the shrine in a sea cave and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 3 hr goes
The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside. The minutes are our estimates from timetables and maps, not timed on the ground.
If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 40 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions
How far is Udo Jingu from the cruise port?
About 14 km by road from East Quay No.9–10, about 20 minutes by taxi and about ¥5,200 each way by our estimate. Nichinan’s tourist association gives 20 minutes by car; Miyazaki Kotsu’s timetable gives 22 minutes by bus from Aburatsu (油津待合所), ¥740.
Can I drive up to the shrine?
Not to the near car parks at the moment: the access road collapsed after heavy rain in 2026. Visitors use the tourist car park, about 20 minutes on foot from the main hall.
Routes that already include it
Finished days timed from official timetables and our estimates, with this stop in them.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~3.5hObi castle town
The Ito lords ruled from Obi for 280 years, and the town has been a preserved district since 1977: the rebuilt Otemon gate, mossy stone walls, a cedar grove where the keep stood, and samurai lanes.
See the detail
See · ~3hThe moai of Sun Messe Nichinan
Seven full-size moai stand on a lawn above the Pacific, made with the permission of the Rapa Nui elders after a Japanese team re-erected the fallen moai of Ahu Tongariki in the 1990s.
See the detail
See · ~2hThe Horikawa Canal and its bridges
The Obi domain dug this canal in 1683–86 to float its cedar to the port.
See the detail