Onigashima Cave

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

MegijimaOnigashimacaveMomotaroTakamatsu

Photo: KimonBerlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · original

Onigashima Cave survives on maintenance and memory as much as on its original construction — that tension is part of the visit.

Megijima is twenty minutes off Takamatsu, and near the top of it is a cave system running about four hundred metres into the hill — chambers, passages, a throne room — cut by hand at some point in the distant past for reasons nobody has established. In 1914 a local schoolteacher rediscovered it and proposed that this was the demons' island of the Momotaro story, and the island has run with it ever since.

The archaeology is genuinely unresolved; the demon figures inside are twentieth-century additions. What is not in doubt is that somebody dug four hundred metres of passage into a hill on a small island. Entry is ¥600 and a bus meets the ferry for ¥100 each way, taking about ten minutes up the hill. The summit above has a view over the whole Inland Sea.

Before you go

Opening hours

Island information office 8:20 AM – 5:20 PM | Cave keeps its own hours

Closed: Confirm ferry and cave operating days before travelling

Admission

¥600 adults for the cave | Shuttle bus ¥100 each way | Ferry charged separately

Best time to visit

Year-round | Spring and autumn for the summit walk

Time to allow

3–4 hours from Takamatsu including the ferry

How to reach it

Getting there in detail

Megi-cho 235, Takamatsu, on Megijima. Ferries from Takamatsu port take about 20 minutes. From the island port a shuttle bus runs to the cave in about 10 minutes for ¥100 each way; bicycles can be hired and it can also be walked uphill. Cave admission ¥600 for adults. Allow about 3 hours 40 minutes for a round trip from Takamatsu port including the ferry.

Historical notes & tips

**Take the shuttle bus.** ¥100 each way, ten minutes, and it meets the ferry. Walking up is possible but it is a mountain road in the sun. **The demon story is from 1914.** A schoolteacher proposed the Momotaro connection after rediscovering the cave. The figures inside are modern. The four hundred metres of hand-cut passage are not. **Go up to the summit.** Above the cave there is a view over the Inland Sea in every direction, and most cave visitors turn round without seeing it. **Check the last ferry.** Megijima is small and there is very little on it after the boats stop. Plan the return before you go up. **Combine with Ogijima.** The same operator runs on to the next island, and doing both in a day is the normal way to use the route.

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