One of Hokkaido's 179 towns
Esashi江差町
Herring money, folk song and Hokkaido's oldest festival
Hiyama region · The quiet Japan Sea coast where the herring boom lives on.
Esashi (the Hiyama one) boomed on herring and folk song — Edo-era merchant streets, a salvaged warship museum, and Hokkaido's oldest festival.
Esashi is the historic heart of the Hiyama coast, a Japan Sea port that grew rich on herring in the Edo period and never really let go of that era. The main street above the harbor, called Inishie Kaido, still runs past merchant houses, a temple and old storehouses, and the Esashi Oiwake folk song that sailors carried up this coast is still sung here. Come for the streetscape, the August shrine festival and a slow evening watching the sun drop behind Kamome Island.
- Region
- Hiyama (檜山)
- From New Chitose Airport
- ~215 km · 3.3 h summer / 3.9 h winter
- From Sapporo
- ~220 km · 3.4 h summer / 4 h winter
- Best season in Hiyama
- Summer for Okushiri's water and uni; August for Esashi's famous Ubagami shrine festival.
Esashi at a glance
Drive estimates: straight-line × 1.35, at 65 km/h (summer) / 55 km/h (winter). How we calculate
What to see in Esashi
Inishie Kaido historic street
いにしえ街道
The old main street that runs along the slope above the harbor. Restored herring-merchant houses, a hilltop temple and the town's folk-song hall line it, and the whole walk takes under an hour.
Kaiyomaru memorial ship
開陽丸記念館
A full-size reconstruction of the shogunate warship that sank off Esashi in 1868 during the Hakodate War. Cannon, fittings and everyday objects raised from the wreck are shown inside, moored beside the harbor.
Kamome Island
鴎島
A low, flat island joined to the harbor by a causeway, with a walking trail around the top, a shrine, and the Heishi rock standing in the water. The best sunset spot in town.
Ubagami Daijingu festival
姥神大神宮渡御祭
Held every August, this is the oldest festival in Hokkaido, dating from the herring-boom years. Thirteen ornate floats parade through the old town for three days with music and chanting.
Getting to Esashi
There is no railway in Hiyama anymore. From Hakodate it is about 1.5 hours by car on Route 227 over the hills, or by direct bus. Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto shinkansen station and Hakodate Airport are the nearest rail and air links. From Sapporo count on about four hours down the Japan Sea coast via Route 229. Ferries to Okushiri Island leave from the Esashi port.
Hiyama region: Reach Esashi by car or bus from Hakodate (about 1.5 hours); ferries to Okushiri run from Esashi and Setana.
When to visit Esashi
August for the shrine festival, when the whole town is out on the street. June to September for the coast, the island walk and calm seas for the Okushiri ferry. Winter brings hard Japan Sea winds and the historic street is quiet but still open.
What to eat in Esashi
Herring is the identity food: dried and simmered as migaki-nishin, on soba, or as the New Year whale-and-vegetable soup called kujira-jiru that the town still makes. Squid, flatfish and sea urchin come off the boats in summer, and local sweets built on the old merchant trade survive.
Esashi in context: the Hiyama region
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Hiyama is the Hokkaido almost no international traveler sees — a string of small ports down the Japan Sea coast where the 19th-century herring boom left merchant houses, shrine festivals and streetscapes that feel preserved rather than restored. Esashi, its historic heart, keeps an Edo-flavored main street above a working harbor.