By Cathy Hirano

For me, it was a very happy New Year. We had the kids home and did traditional Japanese New Year’s things, such as… waking up at 6 AM to watch the first sunrise of the New Year.

Or, at least, my husband and I did. The kids actually stayed up all night and kindly (?) woke us up to join them. Considering that we had already stayed up until 2:00 AM writing (late) New Year’s cards and doing other traditional things, this was a bit painful but still we dragged ourselves from our nice warm futon and headed for Mt. Yashima. (At less than 300 meters in height, this is actually a hill by Canadian standards.)


Mt. Yashima as seen from our house.

To be really true to tradition, we should have made the steep 30-minute climb on foot and many people still do. As this was our first time, however, we chose the easy way – a 5-minute car ride up Yashima driveway. To my surprise, there was actually a lineup at the tollgate and the parking lot at the top was getting quite full even at 6:30 AM. Many people had also staked out choice viewing spots along the driveway. It finally dawned on me that seeing the first sunrise of the year is a popular event! There must have been at least 400 people on Yashima alone, and there are plenty of other good viewing spots in the city that probably had their own crowds.

Once at the top, the booming of Wadaiko (Japanese drums) led us to the viewing site.

Drummers and spectators greeting the sun


Crowd waiting



There is something primeval about walking through the dim pre-dawn light on a mountaintop, accompanied by the deep rolling thunder of drums, and then merging with an anonymous crowd of people all gazing expectantly towards the horizon.

Brave drummers sleeveless despite sub-zero temperatures.


The sun slowly but surely showed its face, welcomed by a cheering crowd and the clicking of camera and cell phone shutters.

Great panorama of the Seto Inland Sea from this spot


Here comes the sun!










This tradition is called Hatsu-hinode, meaning “first sunrise”. All “firsts” in the New Year are awarded special attention in Japanese culture and each important action is given the character 初(“hatsu” or “hajime”) when you do it for the first time in the New Year. Such as “hatsumode”, the first trip to pray at a shrine or temple. Once the sun was up, that’s exactly where the crowd of sun spectators headed – to pray for the coming year at Yashimaji, a temple with a shrine beside it.

Crowd pouring through the temple gate


And heading for the temple




We, however, went home for breakfast!


View on the way down


Yashima Access: If you want to see the sunrise, you’ll need to go by car or on foot. If you want to sightsee during the day, the train and shuttle bus are also options. Please note that the shuttle bus does not run from Dec. to Feb. except on January 1, 2, and 3 and the earliest bus is after 8:00 AM.

By car: From downtown Takamatsu, take Route 11 east towards Tokushima and turn left at the MacDonald’s that is on the left side of the road. Yashima Driveway runs up the hill past Shikoku Mura. The toll for passenger cars is 610 yen. The parking lot at the top has 400 parking spots.

On foot: It takes about 30 minutes to walk up the hill and it’s quite steep. The hiking trail starts on the east side of Yashima Elementary School, which is not on a bus or train route. I recommend biking there if you live within decent biking distance. The trail can also be reached on foot from Kotoden Yashima station, which adds an extra 10 to 20 minutes to your hike. You will need to ask someone who knows the area to give you directions to the trail.

By Kotoden train: take a train from Takamatsu-Chikko Station to Kawaramachi Station (4 minutes, frequent departures) and transfer to the Shido Line. Get off at Kotoden Yashima Station (13 minutes, 3 trains/hour). The entire trip takes about 20 minutes and costs 310 yen. Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (10 minutes, 100 yen).

By JR train: take a local train from JR Takamatsu Station traveling in the Tokushima direction. Get off at Yashima Station (15 minutes, 210 yen, 2 trains/hour). From the station the Yashima Sanjo Shuttle bus runs once per hour to the summit (20 minutes, 100 yen).