Onomichi's Mt Senkoji, including its ropeway and eponymous temple (Photo-essay)

When reading up about Tomonoura and Onomichi before my most recent Japan trip, they both sounded so similar; what with their both being historic port settlements by the Seto Inland Sea, located in Hiroshima Prefecture, having hilly sections, and possessing lots of temples as well as important film associations (with Onomichi's including the fact of the family in focus in Yazujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story actually originally hailing from the smaller city).

Unable to decide which one I wanted to visit more, I decided to visit both of them -- as it turned out, did so on the same day!  And upon doing so, the differences between them became very clear in mind: with Tomonoura feeling much more of a village while Onomichi is noticeably larger and better connected (including in terms of having not just one but two train stations -- one of which the shinkansen stops at), even while also having an "old-timey" feeling of its own too... ;b

My mother and I took the Mt Senkoji Ropeway (or cable car, 

as much of the rest of the world would refer to it) up Mount Senkoji

 

Awesome views unfolded before us on the ride up

 

 Atop Mt Senkoji is an observation platform which 

yields views of the city like this :b

Having made the decision to walk down from the top of the hill,

I came across what looked like a cross between flora and fauna!

Within the grounds of Senkoji are many statues and figurines, including 

of animal representatives of what I had hitherto thought of as the Chinese 

zodiac but now realize is a Buddhist one also utilized by the Japanese 

 

A super large chain of prayer beads like another I had seen

the previous day at Miyajima's Daishoin

 

On a gray day, vermilion paint and Puppet Ponyo

add appreciated color to the scene ;)

 

And ditto re these flowers whose name I don't know but whose

lovely fragrance I caught whiffs of many times on this trip :)