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Travel notesA little of each town’s storyHakuunkan

A little of each town’s story

Omihachiman, Shiga

Hakuunkan

From: A day in Omihachiman, where boats glide through town

Hakuunkan seen through the torii gate
Hakuunkan seen through the torii gate

Built in 1877 as the Hachiman East School by Omi merchants to educate their children, in a Western-influenced style, with most of the cost covered by donations. A registered tangible cultural property, it now houses the tourist information center, with local products on sale downstairs and a multipurpose hall for exhibitions upstairs. It stands before the torii of Himure Hachimangu Shrine.

9-1 Ishincho-moto, Omihachiman, Shiga

Sources: omi8.com tabi-mag.jp

This moment in the journey

A grass-roofed building and Hachiman castella

I passed beneath a great tree hung with a sacred rope and looked across at Hakuunkan, which stands before the shrine's torii gate. Built in 1877 as the Hachiman East School in a Western-influenced style, it now serves as the tourist information center.

My destination was La Collina Omihachiman, a grass-roofed building that looks like something out of a Ghibli film. A path leads between green fields toward roofs that seem to go on forever against the hills. Inside, castella in paper molds were being lined up one after another.

The shop is known for its Hachiman castella, served warm and fluffy from the oven. With tea and an hourglass before me and the grass outside the window, I tore into a cake whose shape begs to be broken by hand. Gently sweet; I felt I could eat it endlessly.

Watch this scene on YouTube2:39

Read this scene in the full journey

A great tree hung with a sacred rope beside the shrine buildings
A great tree hung with a sacred rope beside the shrine buildings
Walking along a path between fields toward the grass-roofed building
Walking along a path between fields toward the grass-roofed building
The long grass-roofed building against the hills
The long grass-roofed building against the hills
Gloved hands lining up castella in paper molds
Gloved hands lining up castella in paper molds
Grass and trees outside the window
Grass and trees outside the window
Tea, an hourglass and a castella
Tea, an hourglass and a castella
Tearing the castella in half by hand
Tearing the castella in half by hand
The torn castella on a plate
The torn castella on a plate

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