OkayamaLeisure

Former Yakage Honjin Ishii Residence (旧矢掛本陣石井家住宅)

Flow of the course

About 60 min here

About 10 min to the next stop

Next stop: Touch on the history of Yakage at a community facility set in a townhouse

About this spot

This is the honjin building where feudal lords on alternate-attendance journeys lodged in Yakage-juku, a post town on the old Sanyodo highway. Designated an Important Cultural Property of Japan, it retains the main house along with its storehouses and front gate just as they were. Seeing the spacious tatami rooms and furnishings in person conveys what travel in the Edo period was like many times better than a textbook. The family also once ran a sake brewery, so the grandeur of the storehouse construction is sure to catch your eye. Yakage is a rare town where both the honjin and the waki-honjin are designated Important Cultural Properties, so start at its very center.

Tips

Admission fees, opening hours and closed days can change, so check the official information in advance. The interior is a cultural property, so tell younger children in advance not to touch the pillars or fittings. You walk on tatami and wooden floors, so shoes that slip on and off easily make it smoother. It stands within the old townscape, so parking in the designated lot and walking there is the safe approach.