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Tottori · City

Yonago

米子市よなごしYonago-shi

The merchant city of San'in between Daisen and the lagoon

Yonago is the largest city of western Tottori and the traditional commercial hub of the San'in coast, set between Mount Daisen and the Nakaumi lagoon. It is the base for Kaike Onsen, Daisen, Sakaiminato and nearby Matsue.

Overview

Yonago occupies the plain at the base of the Yumigahama sand spit, where the Hino River reaches the sea and the Nakaumi lagoon opens towards Shimane. Since the Edo period it has been a town of merchants and shippers rather than of lords, and its role as the trading centre of the western San'in earned it the nickname "the Osaka of San'in".

The city is the main rail junction of the region: the Hakubi Line from Okayama meets the San'in Main Line here, and the Sakai Line runs up the peninsula to the fishing port of Sakaiminato. Yonago Kitaro Airport lies on the same peninsula.

For visitors Yonago is above all a base. Kaike Onsen spreads along the city's beach, Mount Daisen fills the eastern horizon, and Matsue, Yasugi and the Oki ferries at Sakaiminato are all within easy reach.

Landmarks

  • Yonago Castle ruins

    米子城跡Yonago-jō ato

    Extensive stone walls on Minatoyama, a National Historic Site with views across Nakaumi to Daisen and the Shimane peninsula.

  • Kaike Onsen

    皆生温泉Kaike Onsen

    A seaside spa district of ryokan and hotels along the beach, with salty, heat-retaining springs.

  • Kamogawa canal and Teramachi

    加茂川・寺町Kamogawa, Teramachi

    The old merchant quarter, with white-walled storehouses along the canal and a street of temples relocated in the castle-town era.

  • Yonago Waterbird Sanctuary

    米子水鳥公園Yonago Mizudori Kōen

    A wetland reserve on the shore of Nakaumi, a Ramsar site, where tundra swans and ducks winter.

  • Mukibanda Historic Park

    妻木晩田遺跡Mukibanda iseki

    One of Japan's largest Yayoi settlement sites, with reconstructed dwellings and burial mounds, straddling Yonago and the town of Daisen.

Districts

  • Station area

    米子駅周辺Yonago-eki shūhen

    Transport hub for the San'in Main, Hakubi and Sakai lines and the regional bus terminal.

  • Kaike

    皆生Kaike

    The beachfront spa resort north-east of the centre, also the start of the Kaike triathlon, Japan's first.

  • Old town

    旧城下町Kyū-jōkamachi

    The grid of merchant streets and canals below the castle hill.

  • Yodoe

    淀江Yodoe

    Coastal district in the east with Yayoi and kofun sites and spring water from Daisen.

History

The western Tottori plain was a major centre of the Yayoi period; the Mukibanda site, partly within the city, was a hilltop settlement of several hundred dwellings. Yonago Castle was begun at the end of the sixteenth century on Minatoyama, a hill overlooking the lagoon, and completed in the early seventeenth century.

From 1632 the castle belonged to the Tottori Domain, held for the Ikeda by their senior retainers of the Arao family, while the town beneath grew rich on shipping and trade in cotton. The castle was dismantled after the Meiji Restoration. Yonago became a city in 1927, and Kaike Onsen, discovered on the beach in 1900, grew into the prefecture's largest spa resort.

  1. 2nd–3rd c.

    The Mukibanda settlement flourishes on the hills between Yonago and Daisen.

  2. c. 1591

    Construction of Yonago Castle begins under Kikkawa Hiroie.

  3. 1602

    Nakamura Kazutada completes the castle with a five-storey keep.

  4. 1632

    Yonago passes to the Tottori Domain; the Arao family serve as castellans until the Meiji era.

  5. 1873

    The castle is abolished and its buildings are later sold and dismantled.

  6. 1900

    Hot water is found seeping into the sea at Kaike beach, the origin of Kaike Onsen.

  7. 1927

    Yonago is incorporated as a city.

  8. 2005

    Yonago merges with the town of Yodoe.

Culture

Yonago's character is mercantile and outward-looking, shaped by shipping on the lagoon and by its position between Tottori and Shimane. The Gaina Festival, named after the local word for "big", fills the streets each summer with lantern poles and dancing. The city is also a sports town: Kaike hosted Japan's first triathlon in 1981, and Daisen's ski slopes are under an hour away.

Festivals

  • Yonago Gaina Festival

    米子がいな祭Yonago Gaina Matsuri

    The city's main summer festival, with balanced lantern poles, street dancing and fireworks over the harbour.

  • Kaike Onsen fireworks

    皆生温泉の花火Kaike Onsen no hanabi

    Summer fireworks launched over the sea off the spa beach.

  • Kaike Triathlon

    全日本トライアスロン皆生大会Zen-Nihon Toraiasuron Kaike Taikai

    Held each July since 1981, the first triathlon in Japan, with a bike leg on the slopes of Daisen.

Food

  • Beef-bone ramen

    牛骨ラーメンGyūkotsu rāmen

    Ramen in a sweet beef-bone broth, a western Tottori speciality with long-established shops in Yonago.

  • Red snow crab

    紅ずわいがにBeni-zuwaigani

    Deep-water crab landed in great quantity at nearby Sakaiminato, available much of the year.

  • Daisen dairy

    大山乳業Daisen nyūgyō

    Milk and dairy products from the cattle farms on the slopes of Daisen.

  • Iwagaki oysters

    岩がきIwagaki

    Summer rock oysters from the western Tottori coast.

Getting around

  • JR Yonago Station is served by limited express trains from Okayama on the Hakubi Line (about two and a quarter hours) and along the San'in Main Line to Tottori, Matsue and Izumo.
  • The Sakai Line runs up the Yumigahama peninsula to Sakaiminato, passing Yonago Kitaro Airport; its trains are painted with Mizuki Shigeru's characters.
  • Buses connect the station with Kaike Onsen in about 20 minutes and with Daisen-ji in about 50 minutes.
  • Highway buses link Yonago with Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima, Okayama and Tokyo.

Day trips

  • Mount Daisen

    大山Daisen

    Daisen-ji, Ōgamiyama Shrine, beech forests and the climb to the summit area.

  • Sakaiminato and Mizuki Shigeru Road

    境港・水木しげるロードSakaiminato, Mizuki Shigeru Rōdo

    A street lined with bronze yōkai figures and a museum dedicated to the creator of GeGeGe no Kitarō, beside a busy fishing port.

  • Matsue

    松江Matsue

    Shimane's castle town on Lake Shinji, about half an hour by train.

  • Adachi Museum of Art

    足立美術館Adachi Bijutsukan

    Modern Japanese painting and celebrated landscape gardens in Yasugi, Shimane, reached by shuttle bus.

  • Oki Islands

    隠岐諸島Oki-shotō

    Ferries and high-speed boats from Sakaiminato cross to the islands of the Daisen-Oki National Park.

Other cities in the prefecture

CapitalTottoriTottori-shiCastle town of Inaba on the edge of the dunes

Frequently asked questions

Is Yonago a good base for Mount Daisen?

Yes. Buses run from Yonago Station to Daisen-ji, and the city has the widest choice of accommodation in western Tottori, including Kaike Onsen.

Where is Yonago Kitaro Airport?

On the Yumigahama peninsula north of the city, about 25–30 minutes by bus from Yonago Station; a station on the Sakai Line is nearby.

How far is Matsue from Yonago?

About 25–30 minutes by train on the San'in Main Line, which makes day trips between the two cities easy.

What is special about Kaike Onsen?

Its springs rise under the sea just offshore and are rich in salt; the resort stretches along a beach facing Daisen and the Shimane peninsula.

Related

Sources

  1. 1.米子市公式ホームページ (opens in a new tab) — 米子市
  2. 2.令和2年国勢調査 (opens in a new tab) — Statistics Bureau of Japan
  3. 3.鳥取県公式サイト とりネット (opens in a new tab) — 鳥取県
  4. 4.大山隠岐国立公園 (opens in a new tab) — 環境省

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