Last Updated: Dec 22, 2023

Hightail to Hyogo

Exploring the Cities of Kobe & Himeji

This story was originally published on donnykimball.com and has been syndicated here on Medium

Hail and well met travelers! These days, there’s few out there who haven’t heard of the legendary beef that comes from the Kobe area. Despite the fame of these succulent and savory slices of meat, Kobe and the remainder of Hyogo Prefecture rarely receive the tourism foot traffic they deserve. Try as I might, I really can’t come up with a good reason why foreign visitors opt to skip this part of Japan. Regardless of the unexplainable causes though, Hyogo is a prefecture with a nearly endless variety of sights and adventures to discover. No doubt, Hyogo definitely deserves to be on your list.

In addition to Kobe’s amazingly delicious bulvine, the coastal region chronicles deep historical roots. During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the area was an important port for trade with neighboring states such as China and Korea. The city’s story doesn’t begin there though. In fact, archival evidence confirms Kobe has been populated from as far back as the Jomon period (14,000–300 BCE). As is often the case with similar cities, Kobe’s unique geographical peculiarities essentially pre-destined it to evolve over time. To be frank, you couldn’t ask for a more archetypal harborage.

The earliest mentions of Kobe are noted in the Nihon Shoki. These documents log a record of Empress Jingu founding the eminently important Ikuta Shrine. This sanctum sits in the center of what is now the City of Kobe and has long been revered by the local inhabitants. After the founding of Ikuta Shrine in the year 201, the port city that became modern day Kobe began to take shape. Over the subsequent years, the fledgling town emerged as a vital link between Japan and the Asian mainland. Many of Japan’s imperial embassies to China left from Kobe on important mercantile and diplomatic voyages

Granted Kobe is both one of Japan’s earliest and largest metropolises, it should come as no surprise that there’s an impressive smorgasboard of things to do within the city’s reach. While I considered covering these in a series of standalone articles, I believe it would better serve you, the reader, to have them compiled into a single piece. What’s more, seeing Rona-chan won’t leave us alone for some time, why not dig into some longform…