Higashihiroshima City

A grape you can eat whole was bred here.

Shine Muscat, breeding site

Photo by Fumikas Sagisavas (CC0)

01 ／ Aki Kokubunji ruins (安芸国分寺跡)

Inside the temple grounds,a kokushi's office stood.

One of the provincial temples built across Japan in the Nara period by order of Emperor Shomu. Excavation showed that the office of the kokushi, a monk-official sent from the capital, the Kokushi-in (国師院), lay within the grounds; it was the first such site located in Japan. A wooden tablet dated 750 was also unearthed.

Kokushi-in site: first located in Japan
Wooden tablet dated 750 (Tenpyo-shoho 2)
252 finds designated Important Cultural Property (2023)

02 ／ Time-signal tower (時報塔)

Fifteen villagers living in the U.S.gave a bell; a tower rose to hang it.

In 1922, fifteen natives of the former Shiwabori village then living in the United States gave a bell made there. The village built a concrete tower, 7.8 m high, to hang it. Its top was rebuilt in 1942 to hold a siren, which still sounds at 7, 10, 12, 15 and 17 o'clock.

Built in 1922
Bell given by 15 U.S. residents
Siren at 7, 10, 12, 15 and 17 o'clock

03 ／ Miura Senzaburo (三浦仙三郎)

Sake that will not spoil in soft water,set down in a book and shared.

Miura Senzaburo of Mitsu, Akitsu, began brewing in 1876 and was plagued by spoiled batches. Seeking a method that would not spoil in soft water, he insisted on careful measurement and in 1898 published his results as Kaijoho Jissenroku (改醸法実践録). Sake quality rose across Hiroshima Prefecture, not only in Mitsu.

Began brewing in Mitsu in 1876
Published Kaijoho Jissenroku in 1898
Overcame spoilage through "a hundred trials, a thousand fixes"

Living here

From inland Saijo to the seaside of Akitsu.

about 200,000 people
2 hours to a city centre
Shinkansen stops here

The city stretches from inland Saijo to Akitsu on the Seto Inland Sea, across nine districts. In the Saijo sake-brewery street district by Saijo Station, a group of breweries is designated a historic site. In Shiraichi, Takaya, stands a townhouse built in 1665; off Kidani in Akitsu lies Hoboro Island (ホボロ島), said to be shrinking as insects bore holes in it.

People living here: 196,608people
Area: 635.15km²
Households: 90,158households
Rent (average for rentals): 45,124yen
Healthcare: 16 hospitals ／ 133 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-02-07 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —54 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Higashihiroshima City in Japan34.426°N 132.743°E

to OsakaSanyo Shinkansen98min

Travel times follow JR西日本「JRおでかけネット」区間時刻表『東海道･山陽･九州新幹線(東京～博多～鹿児島中央) 下り』（https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/line-timetable/1796 ・2026年9月29日〈火〉のダイヤ。本体が保存した表 $SP/jr-shinkansen-down-20260929.json を、東広島の『発』の欄について数え直した）と、そこから開いた列車ページ（ひかり681号 https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/train-timetable/314271?date=20260929 ・『毎日運転』）。バスの確認はJRバス中国の路線詳細（express/detail/0545・0470）と時刻表PDF (checked 2026-09-29). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 8 municipalities.

Territory of Higashihiroshima City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

40.0km

竹原市, 広島市, 三原市, 呉市, 安芸高田市, 三次市, 世羅町, 熊野町

Higashihiroshima City isthis kind of town.

01At a Japanese national agricultural research institute's grape breeding site in Akitsu, 'Shine Muscat' was bred in 1988 by crossing 'Akitsu 21' with 'Hakunan', and registered as a variety in 2006.
02In Saijo stand the Aki Kokubunji ruins, with the site of a kokushi's office; in Shiwabori, a time-signal tower with a bell given by 15 U.S. residents; and in Akitsu, the sake-making history of Miura Senzaburo, who set down the soft-water brewing method.
03There are also Kagamiyama Castle ruins, where Ouchi Masahiro's castle rules of 1478 were issued, Shiraichi, with the Former Kihara House built in 1665 and the house of a family of bronze casters, and Saijo's brewery street, whose brewery group is a historic site.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashihiroshima City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗