The charm of Kakunodate

Remnants of the castle town that still remains

It was Mr. Ashina who created the townscape of Kakunodate in 1620 (6th year of Genna) at the beginning of the Edo period. After that, it prospered as a castle town of the Satake Kita family.

Surrounded by mountains on three sides, this town is surrounded by mountains along the Tamagawa and Hinokinai rivers, and is a tourist attraction with a beautiful historic samurai residence and rows of cherry blossom trees, which makes it truly a "Little Kyoto of Michinoku". is.

The town is at the center of the square called "Hiyoke (awning)", north samurai houses lined "Uchimachi (Uchimachi)" , south live the townspeople and merchants "outside the town (the town)" divided into it was done.

Information on samurai residences

Paid facility Ishiguro family / Kakukan historical village Aoyagi family

Free facilities Iwahashi family / Kawarada family / Odano family / Matsumoto family

According to the materials, "382 spaces (about 687 meters) south of the foot of Mt. Kojo, a line from east to west will be used to prevent fire. A 1-length (about 3 meters) high earthwork will be built on the south side of the center to completely block the inner and outer towns . "
It is said that a fire shield was installed to prevent the inner town from catching fire when a fire broke out in the outer town. Furthermore, a Kido gate was set up in the middle of the earthworks, and it was closed at night.
Isn't it not only a fire but also an effect that prevents suspicious persons from invading?

The town division, which was divided into a samurai society in the north and a merchant / craftsman society in the south, still remains as it was 400 years later.

When you come to Kakunodate, please enjoy sightseeing while thinking about the lives of the former samurai and tradesmen.

"Ding" and "town"

Some of the names in Kakunodate have "Cho" such as "Omotesando Shimocho / Kamicho" and "Higashi Katsurakucho", and some have "Town" such as "Iwase Town" and "Shimoshinmachi".
This is because the name of the town where the samurai lived has "Ding", and the merchant town has "Town".
One of the attractions of Kakunodate is that the place names retain the remnants of hundreds of years ago.

(The photo on the right is from the Kakunodate Festival)