Odawara is home to Odawara Castle, Zuikuunji Temple, Odawara Sakana Center, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Planet Life and Planet Earth, Forest Adventure Odawara, Odawara Flower Garden, Seikantei, Odawara Literature Museum, Suzuhiro Kamaboko Museum, Houtoku Museum, and other tourist spots.
Local delicacies such as fresh seafood, hinomono, kamaboko, Odawara oden, and uro (rice cake) are also recommended.
Odawara Castle is one of the most important historic castles in Kanagawa Prefecture. Located in Odawara, it flourished from the Warring States period (15th–16th centuries) through the Edo period (1603–1868). It is especially famous as the stronghold of the powerful Later Hōjō clan, whose rule extended across much of the Kantō region. The castle became known as an impregnable fortress because it w...»
A Destination for Learning About and Enjoying Kamaboko Kamaboko, a traditional Japanese fish cake, is one of Odawara's best-known local specialties. Although it is a familiar food throughout Japan, it has a long history and a fascinating variety of regional styles, ingredients, production methods, and ways of serving it. Suzuhiro Kamaboko Village is a destination where visitors can explore this ...»
Located close to Odawara Fishing Port in Kanagawa Prefecture, Odawara Fish Center is a seafood market where visitors can find fresh fish and other products from the local area. Its selection includes seafood caught that morning, dried fish, kamaboko fish cakes, and other Odawara specialties, as well as locally grown vegetables and fruit. Visitors can also enjoy a barbecue inside the market....»
Odawara Flower Garden is a spacious botanical garden in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, where visitors can enjoy beautiful flowers and changing seasonal scenery throughout the year. Surrounded by flowers and greenery, it offers a relaxing place for families, couples, and anyone who loves plants and gardens. The garden features a wide variety of flowers, including plum blossoms, cherry blossoms, ros...»
A New Citrus Variety Developed in Odawara Shonan Gold is a late-season citrus variety developed in 1991 at the Ashigara Branch Office of the Kanagawa Prefectural Agricultural Technology Center in Nebukawa, Odawara City. Although Odawara is an urban area, it is also blessed with abundant natural surroundings, making it a suitable place for citrus cultivation and research. The variety was created ...»
A Specialty Rooted in Odawara's History Odawara kamaboko is a traditional fish cake that has flourished as one of the area's major local industries. Its origins date back to the late Edo period (1603–1868). It is distinguished by its characteristic shape: seasoned fish paste is spread and molded over a wooden board, forming a gently curved, fan-like profile....»
A Traditional Pickled Specialty Created as a Snack for Sake Hototogisu-maki is a distinctive local delicacy from Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. It is made by mixing powdered peanuts, sugar, mustard powder, sesame seeds, and starch syrup, then wrapping the mixture in shiso leaves, the fragrant leaves of the Japanese beefsteak plant. Its flavor begins with sweetness, but the heat of the mustard gra...»
Himono, or dried fish, is one of the traditional seafood specialties of the coastal communities surrounding Sagami Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture. When walking through towns along the bay, visitors may notice fresh fish shops and specialty dried-fish stores displaying split and dried horse mackerel outside their premises. These familiar scenes are part of the area's traditional coastal atmosphere and...»
Horse mackerel, known as aji in Japanese, is one of the signature seafood products of Sagami Bay. The coastal area extending from Odawara to Manazuru in Kanagawa Prefecture has several fixed-net fishing grounds, where fresh horse mackerel is landed every morning. Thanks to the area's rich marine environment and careful handling after the catch, Odawara and Manazuru are well known for their excell...»
Odawara, in western Kanagawa Prefecture, is famous for its ume plums, which have been cultivated in the area for centuries. The tradition of growing ume in Odawara dates back to a time before the rule of the Hōjō clan, the powerful samurai family that governed the region during the Sengoku period (1467–1615). For generations, local farmers and households have harvested ume and prepared homemade u...»
Japanese sweets, known as wagashi, are one of Odawara’s distinctive food traditions. The city’s long history of tea ceremony culture, which developed through the Sengoku, Edo, and Meiji periods, helped establish Odawara as an important center of Japanese confectionery....»
Hakone Beer is a local craft beer brewed using high-quality water from the Odawara area. Known as Hakone Hyakunen-sui, or “Hakone Hundred-Year Water,” this water is a distinctive natural resource that contributes to the beer’s smooth character....»
Odawara Oden is a distinctive local dish that brings together the city’s long-established fish cake-making tradition and a unique plum-based dipping sauce. Odawara kamaboko, a type of steamed fish cake, has a long history and is widely known throughout Japan. Historical documents even contain accounts of the Hōjō clan, which once ruled Odawara, serving kamaboko to guests. Today's Odawara Oden beg...»
Odawara Shirasu Sanshoku-Don is a local rice bowl featuring shirasu, the tiny young fish that is a specialty of the Shonan coastal area. It allows diners to enjoy three different preparations of shirasu in a single dish....»
Kanrobai is a traditional Japanese confection associated with the former Odawara Domain. It is said to have been created in 1856, toward the end of the Edo period, at the request of the domain lord, Ōkubo Tadayoshi. According to tradition, the first-generation Yoshichirō of a confectionery shop called Owariya in Odawara devised the sweet and gave it its distinctive form. It consists of smooth red...»
Tsuki no Usagi, meaning “Moon Rabbit,” is a popular chestnut manju from Odawara. Its most striking feature is the large whole chestnut hidden inside the sweet. When the manju is cut in half, the round golden-yellow chestnut appears like a full moon shining in the night sky....»
Koshuin Monaka is a signature confection from Shoeido, a long-established Japanese confectionery shop in Odawara with a history of more than 100 years. This distinctive monaka has been officially recognized as a Kanagawa Prefecture specialty confection. It consists of sweet red bean paste made from premium Dainagon azuki beans grown in Hokkaido, together with gyuhi, a soft and elastic rice cake. ...»
Anpan is a Japanese bread roll filled with sweet red bean paste. Odawara is home to two particularly famous versions, known to local residents and popular with visitors. One is the generously filled anpan from Moriyapan (Moriyapan Seipan-ten), near Odawara Station. The other is the thin-skinned anpan from Yanagiya Bakery, located along National Route 1 in an area once lined with samurai residences...»
A Famous Local Food Souvenir from a Historic Tokaido Post Town Koji-iri Ika no Shiokara is a traditional Odawara specialty made by combining squid caught in Sagami Bay with locally sourced ingredients. These include salt from the salt fields that once extended from Oiso to Kozu in Odawara, as well as rice koji produced by sake breweries in the surrounding area. Odawara is said to be the birthpla...»
A Unique Cookie That Captures the Flavor of Local Fish Horse Mackerel Sablé is a distinctive butter cookie made by blending powdered horse mackerel caught in Odawara into the dough. Its unusual appeal lies in the gentle aroma of horse mackerel that can be noticed when taking a bite and again in the aftertaste. This unexpected combination has made it a popular souvenir from Kanagawa Prefecture. S...»
The Famous Confectionery of the Uiro Family, Also Celebrated in Kabuki Uiro is a traditional Japanese sweet made from rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and sugar. It is known for its distinctive texture and has a long history in Odawara. The confectionery is associated with the Uiro family, who were invited to Odawara from Kyoto by Hojo Soun after he brought the area under his control in 1495. D...»
Tea Grown in an Environment Ideally Suited to Cultivation Ashigara Tea is a high-quality Japanese tea produced in the foothills of the Tanzawa and Hakone mountains. The local climate is particularly well suited to tea cultivation and helps produce leaves with a delicate texture and a rich, pleasant aroma. The area receives relatively little direct sunlight. This allows the tea plants to absorb a...»