佐島

The ferry from Innoshima lands at Yuge, and the timetable seems to set the day's pace rather than the clock. The island narrows at its middle into a gourd shape, granite hills rising to the north, low ridges falling away to the south. Along the eastern shore, the pine grove of Hōōgahara meets the sand at Matsubara, where the water of the Seto Inland Sea stays shallow and clear. Salt was made here from antiquity, and the name Yuge-jio still appears on small packets sold near the port, alongside hassaku and the dark sheets of Yuge-nori from the local seaweed beds.

Walking inland, the road passes Takahama Hachiman Shrine, founded in the late Heian period and still tending its quiet precinct, and climbs eventually to the Kushiyama tumulus group, where a small observation platform looks back over the strait. There is a roadside facility, Yugetopia, and a bathhouse called Shio-no-yu drawn from saline springs — modest infrastructure, but enough.

What distinguishes Kamijima from the louder islands along the Shimanami route is the absence of a bridge passing through it. Citrus groves drop straight to the water, fishermen tend set nets and nori rafts, and the morning fish market continues as a working transaction rather than a performance. One adjusts, after a few days, to reading the ferry board in pencil and waiting for the wind to settle.