A Self-Guided Walking Tour Miyoshi City's Old Town Legend

Miyoshi City sits at the confluence of three rivers in Hiroshima Prefecture. Its geography made it a thriving trade hub, with a foggy mountain landscape that gave rise to a rich tradition of folklore. On this self-guided audio tour, you'll follow the old Iwami Ginzan Roadway – once used to transport silver that represented a third of the world's supply – through a castle town where history and supernatural legend blur at the edges. The tour starts at Miyoshi Station's cormorant fishing monument, a nod to the city's 450 year continuous practice of the folk tradition. You'll encounter the legend of Heitarō Inō, the unflinching teenager harassed by supernatural creatures for thirty straight nights. Along the way, you'll visit Dasai Shrine, where three deities are enshrined together. The tour ends at the Yumoto Koichi Memorial Japan Yokai Museum, Japan's first museum dedicated to yōkai, housing over 5,000 artefacts.