Arima
#ArimaOnsen #Hyogo
A short trip from Osaka to Arima Onsen on the Hankyu bus for exactly one hour. There are no transfers and the bus is a highly recommended means of transportation.
I've wanted to go to Tsuchiyamajin, a famous soba restaurant, for a few years now, so I wrote my name and mobile number and walked around until I got a call.
Further up the mountain from Tsuchiyamajin is a temple called Gokurakuji. It has a quiet and tranquil appearance, but it seems to be a relatively new building.
According to legend, Prince Shotoku founded the temple in the first year of the reign of Empress Suiko (593) in a stone storehouse on the east side of the Johki Bridge, with the Kannon Bodhisattva statue carved by Kurahata Tori as the principal image. Gokurakuji was destroyed by a flood that hit Arima in the first year of the Johki era (1097), and was later relocated to its current location and rebuilt by Kawakami Ise, who followed the monk Ninsai, who restored Arima Onsen in the second year of the Kenkyu era (1191). And, the temple was invited to the temple by the monk Honen, and the name was changed to Mitsuzo-ji-yama Gokuraku-ji, and it flourished as a training center for chanting Buddhist prayers. During the reign of Emperor Go-Kashiwabara, the name was changed to Jakusei-zan Denpo-in Gokuraku-ji.
From there, we went down the hill again, and since we hadn't received a call from Tsuchiyama-jin yet, we went to a bakery that makes bread using salt extracted from Arima Onsen and went to Cafe de Bou. We bought strawberry daifuku bread and five-grain bread? almond danish. The strawberries are made with Akihime strawberries. We bought dried sansho pepper, soup stock, whiskey, etc. at the souvenir shop, and just as we were heading to Tsuchiyama-jin, it was good timing that our name was called. The set of sudachi hot soba and beef rice was 2,700 yen including tax. It was a refreshing and delicious soba. It will end as soon as the soba runs out, so we recommend that you write your name early. There are other stores in Harare, Kitahama, and Ashiya nearby. We also had gelato from a popular shop, but our appetite got the better of us and we forgot to take photos.
Having eaten too much, we went to see the source of the carbonated hot spring to work up an appetite, and it was fun to take a break and refresh ourselves by sitting on a bench in the quiet shade of the trees and watching the spring bubbling away. I think people who like hot springs and foot baths will enjoy it even more. Incidentally, the last Hankyu Bus to Umeda leaves at 17:40. It fills up quickly so be sure to get your tickets early... It was a relaxed day trip with a friend.