Hagi is a castle town at the western end of Honshu, on a delta between the Hashimoto and Matsumoto rivers, and the place where Japan's modern history began in earnest. The Mori clan, who were stripped of most of their lands after losing at Sekigahara in 1600, were sent here to a poor corner on the coast, and they spent the next two and a half centuries nursing a grievance. In the 1860s, men from Hagi and the surrounding domain of Choshu led the movement to topple the shogun, and several later became leaders of the new Japan.
The site called Ohitayama belongs to an earlier chapter. It was a tatara ironworks, where iron was smelted in the old Japanese way, in a clay furnace fed with charcoal and iron sand, and the remains of this proto-industrial site are part of the UNESCO listing of Meiji industrial heritage. In the 1850s, the domain tried to build Western-style cannons and ships, and Ohitayama is where some of the early experiments took place. The place is in hills, in woodland, and it takes some finding.
The ride toward it goes into the mountains above the Sea of Japan coast, with narrow roads through cedar and bamboo forest, small farms, and the occasional view down to the sea. The surface is generally good, but the lanes are narrow and shaded, with leaf litter and damp patches, and some roads are only one lane wide with passing bays. Wild boar and deer are common, and dusk is the time to be careful. The sections close to the site may have limited signage, so check the route in advance and have a map downloaded.
Hagi, fifteen kilometres away, is a city of nearly forty-four thousand, with fuel, shops and a pleasant old quarter of samurai houses and whitewashed walls. Fill the tank in town before you go up. Hagi is also known for its pottery, with soft, pale glazes, and for the sweet summer oranges that grow in its gardens. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and the summer humidity is heavy.