錦帶橋.

The Kintaikyo bridge (錦帯橋) is one of the top 3 bridges in Japan. It was built in 1673. It was rebuilt once in 1950. It was said that the original bridge was constructed without using any iron nails.

The bridge was commonly featured in Hiroshima tour posters with the great Torii. This could be a day trip from Hiroshima.

View from our hotel.

The bridge has been under maintenance since the start of the year. But one can still use half of the bridge.

View from the other side of the bridge the day before.

According to its website, the maintenance to ensure its structure soundness had been completed in Mar 2020.

Website: http://kintaikyo.iwakuni-city.net/
JapanGuide: https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6177.html

Dassai Brewery

Our first brewery at Yamaguchi would be that of Dassai (獺祭). The name of the brewery is actual ly Asahi Shuzo (旭酒造). Dassai had been growing in popularity internationally. The story of Dassai was amazing and could be found easily online. Dassai was currently building a sake brewery in New York US.

Dassai was the largest brewery in Yamaguchi. They also had the largest milling capacity in the whole of Japan. Processes were systematic and automated here. Quality control of the sakes were also systematically measured and charted. The methodology of making sakes was still the usual traditional method of milling and brewing etc. However Dassai strives to ensure consistency.

Rice washing (洗米)

Koji (mould) room.

Brewing tanks.

Bottling.

Exterior view of the brewery.

Website: https://www.asahishuzo.ne.jp/en/

Irori Sanzoku いろり山賊

There was an interesting themed restaurant at Yamaguchi. This was the Irori Mountain Bandit restaurant. There were a few branches, and we went to the Kuga branch (玖珂). It was about 30 min drive from Iwakuni station. Sanzoku means mountain bandit.

Here is a picture of the entrance.

Two of the famous items were bandit grilled chicken (below). You could eat the chicken directly off the bamboo skewer.

The other was the giant sized rice ball - musubi. It was pretty plain, so maybe 3 people could share one.

Website: http://www.irori-sanzoku.co.jp/
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/yamaguchi/A3506/A350601/35000073/

Iwakuni Yukariya 岩国縁家

Iwakuni is a small city in the southeast of Yamaguchi. We would be visiting Dassai brewery the next morning, and decided to stay a night before. Iwakuni is just a short distance from Hiroshima, and can be a short day-trip.

We were staying near the Iwakuni station. We found this izakaya about 8min away. It served five local sakes - Kinsuzume (金雀), Ganki (雁木), Gokyo (雁木), Hinoshita musou (日下無双), Dassai (獺祭)

Choushuu Chicken liver (長州どりの鶏レバー). One of my favorite izakaya dish. Boiled liver with shoyu.

Yakitori sticks.

Website: http://www.iwakuni-yukariya.com/
Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/yamaguchi/A3506/A350601/35008777/