Io-ji and the view over the harbourPhoto: Saigen Jiro / CC0
Io-ji stands halfway up the hill west of the harbour; the tourism association describes it as the place where Tomonoura spreads out below you.
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · times from official timetables and our estimates · Takumi Yamada
A temple halfway up the hill behind the town. From its grounds the tiled roofs, the round harbour and Sensui-jima lie below; the tourism association calls it the place for the view. The photograph is the higher view from Taishiden, further up the same steps. Free and always open. The way up is a climb.
- Short enough to be certain of: 45 min door to door, so even a tender day works.
- Reachable on foot from the berth, so no timetable can strand you.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
Where the 45 min 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 35 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
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.
1 hr for bothBenten-jima from the waterfront
The small rock island with a red pagoda that sits between Tomo and Sensui-jima.
See the detail
1 hr 5 min for bothHomeishu
Tomo’s own liqueur: glutinous rice, shochu and 16 herbs, sweet with no sugar added.
See the detail
1 hr 15 min for bothJoyato lantern and the gangi steps
The stone harbour lantern at the tip of the great gangi, given by the people of Nishimachi in 1859: 12.1 m with its base, the largest harbour lantern in Japan by the tourism association’s account.
See the detail