8 November 2024
Perched atop a steep cliff face overlooking the wide, blue ocean and jagged rocks, Udo Shrine is an absolute must for all visitors to Miyazaki. It is located about 35 km south of Miyazaki city.
We drove southwards on Route 220, along the east coast of Miyazaki, from Aoshima Island towards Udo Shrine. This stretch of the coast is known as the Nichinan Coast and is a very scenic route with the sea on our left and the mountains to our right. There were also lots of palm trees in this area, giving it a very tropical feel.
Horikiri Pass
After about 4 km into our drive from Aoshima, we made a quick stop at Horikiri Pass. This is a nice place to view the ocean from the cliff. We could also view more of the Devil’s Washboard in the shore below us. The bed of rock has straight ridges, which are the result of erosion, giving it the appearance of an old-fashioned washboard.
The old coastal road down Horikiri Pass is supposed to be very scenic but it was closed. We had to backtrack to Route 220 to continue our journey southwards.
Lunch at Taikai
We figured that we should have seafood while travelling along the east coast of Kyushu. The coastal areas typically served the freshest and cheapest seafood.
We decided to have early lunch at this highly recommended seafood restaurant located in Nichinan called Taikai (大海). The Kanji characters on the roof mean “Big Sea”, probably referring to the main source of the ingredients for our meal.
The restaurant opened at 11 AM. We timed our arrival just after the restaurant opens for business. Even then, there were already a few groups of people seated outside, waiting for a table. We had to register our names and waited a short time before we were ushered in. We were offered a seat at a Japanese style, low dining table, where we had to sit on cushions placed on the floor.
The restaurant provided menu in English and we had to order via a tablet. The restaurant features an impressive selection of fresh seafood, including thick-cut sashimi and flavorful lobster, all served at reasonable prices.
The restaurant is known for their Ise Lobsters (Japanese spiny lobster) which were in season. We just had Ise Lobster for dinner in Miyazaki so we decided to skip the lobster and ordered the sashimi rice bowl sets (3410 Yen per set) instead. The seafood rice bowl set came with vinegared vegetables, broth, “dutch egg” or chicken nanban, miso fish soup.
The “Dutch egg” was pretty tasty . We had a hard time figuring out the ingredients that probably included tofu, egg and some meat protein. The chicken nanban is tasty too. Chicken nanban is fried chicken that is soaked in sweet and sour sauce and comes with tartar sauce. It is a famous Miyazaki local food and is definitely something that is a must try when visiting Miyazaki. We actually had our first try of this savoury dish during the buffet breakfast at the Dormy Inn Miyazaki.
The seafood rice bowl came with various fresh seafood including the expensive Uni (sea urchin’s roe) and sweet Botan shrimp. The portion was generous and I was struggling to finish all the food.
We saw many of the other diners enjoying their grilled lobsters and I felt a little regret that we did not splurge on a lobster meal.
After our lunch break, we continued on our drive down the scenic coastal road to Udo Shrine. We saw signs for the entrance to Sun Messe Nichinan park that featured a row of replica Moai statues but decided to drive on. We had seen similar Moai statues in Hokkaido and was free of charge too. Hence it made no sense to pay money to see something similar.
See my blog post on the Easter Island Moai Statues in Hokkaido here.
Udo Shrine or Udo Jinga (鵜戸神宮)
Udo Shrine is located very close to Sun Messe Nichinan. Apparently there was some road works on the usual access road to the shrine and we were directed by Google Maps to use another access road. We had to turn off into Route 433 on our left side after going through a traffic tunnel on the main highway. From there, we had to turn off Route 433 onto a narrow single track road. This road hugged the coast with the sea to our right, i.e. we are approaching the shrine from the south. We had to drive carefully, as there are many turns and blind corners with cars coming from the opposite direction.
There are several car parks near the shrine and we parked at the nearest available one. This shrine is quite popular as could be seen by the number of cars in the large car park.
We took a small detour to see the Udo Inari Shrine first. This small shrine is located on the left, just past the entrance gates.
Like the Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto, the Udo Inari Shrine has a series of red torii gates lined up along the path to the shrine, located on the hillside. The torii gates at Udo is smaller in scale but still worth a few photos.
From the Inari Shrine, we turned left and continued down a path with bright red railings that leads to the main shrine. The main shrine is set in a cave on the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean.
Among the rocks below, we saw a target marked by rope. The target is a hole on a large rock into which people try to throw small clay pebbles called undama (loosely translated as lucky balls). These balls are available sold from a stall by the shrine. 5 balls for 200 yen.
Fun aside, the actual shrine in the large cave was quite impressive to see.
Udo Shrine is dedicated to Yamasachihiko, the father of Emperor Jimmu, the mythical first emperor of Japan.
Due to some legends or stories about Jimmu being or reared here, the shrine is famous for granting luck in love, pregnancy and safe childbirth.
Visitors could walk, in the clockwise direction, around the shrine.
Our visit to Udo Shrine marked the end of our drive down the Nichinan Coast. From there, we drove inland towards Kirishima and then Kagoshima where we would be staying for the night.
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