(鬼ヶ島) Demon Island: Onigashima

Made famous by a movie, this island is officially named as Megi Island (女木島) (take note, jima/shima = island) but have ended up being more known as the Demon Island (Onigashima, where oni=demon).

It hosts Japan's first UNESCO heritage site,

Budget: JPY1,740 (~USD17)

• JPY740. Ferry, Takamatsu Port <> Megijima (JPY370 one way)
• JPY400. Bus, Megijima Port <> Cave
• JPY600. Cave entrance fee. 

Visit Date  (Elevation: 186.8m / 612ft)

• September 22, 2020
• I did this hike as part of a four night-four day trip to Shikoku. I'll link the blog post once it's published. 

When to Go

Throughout the year! The ferry operates even on New Year's. 

Special Notes

• Access. 
• Walk, Takamatsu Station (高松駅) to Takamatsu Ferry (高松港)
• Ferry, Takamatsu Port (高松港) to Megijima (女木島), JPY370 one way. 

Ferry Schedule, Takamatsu Port (高松港) to Megijima (女木島)

Itinerary

• 11:45am. Arrived at the port (google maps pin). You can easily see the ferry, but tickets have to be bought prior to boarding. Just go to the building next to it and you'll see the sign for the ticket office, which is on the far end. Paid for the tickets, cash only. 
• 11:50am. Boarded the ferry. 
• 12:00pm. Ferry, Takamatsu Port to Megijima.
• 12:20pm. Arrived at Megijima. Upon exiting, I turned right and there's the ticket office. At the entrance, to the right, was the counter to buy bus tickets. The bus supposedly leaves at 12:20pm, but they would wait for everyone who got off the ferry to buy their tickets and board. 
• 12:24pm. Bus leaves for the cave. Near the entrance is a machine to buy tickets to enter the cave, JPY600 per head. I bought the tickets, and went to the cave. One employee stays at the entrance and basically takes your photo (using your phone) at the cave entrance. The cave was BIG, and I can imagine it being a shelter years and years ago. They have demon masks on it, and if you read on the history there's probably something there. There are quite a couple of corners where they would have those colorful statues or masks, or even a treasure section. I just went to explore the cave, and followed the route. 
• 12:43pm. Exited the cave. Right outside, is a sign in English that says don't forget to look back up. So I did, and up there were some "basalt columnar joints". I turned right and went up the viewing point. 
• 12:43pm. I ended up summiting their mountain! At 187meters, this is not my lowest peak haha. When I went down, the guide says it's Mt. Washigamine (鷲ヶ峰). The highest point of the island was Mt. Takato (タカト山) at 216meters, whose trailhead was right at the bus stop next to the cave, so I could have had gone straight for it. Here's a sample route. It is about 4 hours, 7.8kms, with a 500m elevation gain/loss.
• 12:54pm. I was back at the bus. The bus will leave at 1:05pm, so I had a bit of time to spare. 
• 01:05pm. Bus, cave entrance to port. 
• 01:20pm. Boarded the ferry. 
• 01:40pm. Back at Takamatsu Port.

Near Tokushima Station is the port. The red ship going to Megijima is easily spotted. 

The ticket counter. 

I bought a roundtrip ticket - I provided one stub when I got off the ferry at Megijima, and gave the return stub before getting on the ferry at Megijima. 

Once I got off, people were either gong left or right. I wanted to take the bus straight up, so I followed the red arrow to the right. 

The ticket counter. They had a piece of paper with English translation, so it is English friendly, surprisingly. 

The bus awaits right outside. I was a tad worried coz it took me about 5 minutes to fall in line and buy the tickets, but the bus will wait for the passengers. 

The entrance to the demon cave. 

One of the most common pictures I saw when I google Onigashima. 

Ticket machine. I was surprised that there was a fee to enter, but oh well, I was already there. 

The inside of the cave has a couple of these colorful demon statues. Honestly, I think their concept of demon is not as scary as the western one...

Demon masks everywhere!

They even had a path surrounded by it. Now, this i would believe as scary. Not the colorful, happy looking ones. 

Once I exited, there's a sign in English that said look back and up. Sheep that I am, I looked back and up. I'm glad to be a sheep in this case.

I then proceeded to the top of the island. 

Pretty nice walk up.

I am surprised there's a marker in here! Did I just hike?!

Beautiful view at the top. ON the left is the summit of Mt. Takato.

The demon guardian.

I had some 5 or so minutes to kill waiting for the ferry, and so I walked around the port. 

And as I got closer, it seems that the little baby demon is mocking me.  

Yep, it is.