Kakunodate's Samurai Street: A Quiet Day Among Black Fences and Weeping Cherries

Kakunodate rewards a slow walk. Along its wide samurai street the fences run without a break under a deep grove of weeping cherries and firs, a main street protected as a Nationally Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The blossom is loved and looked after by local people, and the weeping cherries of the street and the Somei-yoshino along the Hinokinai River colour the whole town when they flower. Snow settles quietly on the residences in winter, and in any season there is Kabazaiku, the town's craft of mountain cherry bark.

Black Fences and Weeping Cherries in Uchimachi

The street of samurai residences is called Uchimachi, and it keeps its old lot divisions and the layout of main house, gate and storehouse within each plot, so the shape of a samurai town is still underfoot. The residences of upper- and middle-ranking samurai stood here, almost at the centre of the former samurai town.

Fences run continuously along the wide street, and large weeping cherries and fir trees form a deep grove over them, and with the imposing mansion grounds they still carry the look of the feudal era. An old description of these weeping cherries has them hanging down a thousand threads, with mist and cloud about them and countless petals dancing lightly in the wind like cotton or snow.

The town's plan was laid out by the Ashina clan, and Kakunodate then prospered as the castle town of the Satake Kita family. That plan ran a firebreak with an earthen embankment through the middle of town, samurai residences of Uchimachi to its north, townspeople and merchants of Tomachi to its south, and walking from one to the other you cross that line.

The Cherry Row Along the Hinokinai River, and the Town Through the Year

West of the town centre the Hinokinai River flows past a row of four hundred and nine Somei-yoshino cherries on its left-bank embankment, designated a national place of scenic beauty. With the weeping cherries of the samurai street, this embankment was chosen among Japan's noted cherry-blossom sites, so one season offers two walks: trailing branches over black fences in town, and the Somei-yoshino row by the river. At Ochiai, further Somei-yoshino spread over about two kilometres around a riverside park; walk upstream along the Hinokinai from there and you reach the designated row.

The town changes with the year: in summer the leaves grow large and the green deepens, making shade from the hot sun to stroll in; in autumn the trees of the residences add colour to the black board fences, in sunshine or wet with rain; in winter snow falls quietly and piles up on the residences against the black fences, and the sound of snow under your steps becomes part of the walk.

Winter also brings evenings worth staying for: the Iwahashi house is lit up after dark in the depth of winter (see the table below), and on February fourteenth the Hifuri is held at a main venue and in each neighbourhood from evening. A rope about one metre long is tied to a bag of charcoal, the bag is set alight, and each person swings it around their body on the end of the rope. The rite belongs to the old-calendar new year, and its sacred fire carries a prayer to keep misfortune from the rice fields and the family healthy through the year.

Tomachi, the Merchant Town, and the September Floats

South of the firebreak lies Tomachi, the former merchant town, with a streetscape of merchant houses rather than samurai residences. Many old buildings and storehouses survive and are used as shops and restaurants, so a walk here turns into browsing, and the Ōta family house stands opposite the Andō miso and soy sauce brewery.

The September festival began about four hundred years ago and joins the Shinmeisha festival on the seventh and eighth with the Yakushido festival on the eighth and ninth. Hikiyama floats carrying warrior dolls and kabuki dolls are pulled out from each district, while those riding them play the Oyama music on flutes, drums, gongs and shamisen and Akita Obako perform hand dances. On the seventh the floats worship at Shinmeisha, on the eighth they pass along the samurai street to pay a formal visit to the head of the Satake Kita family, and on the eighth and the final day, the ninth, they go up to Yakushido.

Joju-in Yakushido keeps a hidden principal image about fifteen centimetres tall, and the traditional event tied to it is a nationally designated intangible folk cultural property; before the grand festival each year a lion dance goes round every household in town, and continues today.

Cherry Bark, Lacquer and Wood: The Crafts of Kakunodate

Kabazaiku is the craft of Kakunodate: work made from mountain cherry bark, its lustre brought out by a distinctive technique, using only two kinds of mountain cherry bark and never birch. The colour is sober and deep, with the bark's own lustre, and the representative pieces are tea caddies and tea chests, letter boxes, small chests of drawers, brooches and tie pins.

The craft came to Kakunodate through Fujimura Hikoroku of the Satake Kita household and is made by three methods; in the katamono method a core is shaped to fit a wooden mould and bark is pasted over it to form a cylinder, the maker watching the heat of both glue and iron.

Kakunodate Shunkei lacquer is said to have been founded by a townsman named Chohachi and is also called Chohachi-nuri. Itaya-zaiku is said to have begun as a side occupation of farm households, splitting the trunks of young Itaya maples into strips to weave and plait. Shiraiwa-yaki pottery was brought here by the potter Unshichi and, after a long interruption, revived under the guidance of Hamada Shoji, a Living National Treasure.

The Samurai Quarter to the South and the Houses to Visit

A second samurai district lies in the south of town, where eighty samurai households once lived apart from Uchimachi. It is not a national preservation district, but black board fences remain from long ago, and a fir tree, a gate and those fences mark it out.

Of the houses to visit, the Iwahashi house belonged to senior retainers of the Ashina clan who served the Satake Kita family after the Ashina line ended, while the Matsumoto family samurai house holds demonstrations of Itaya woodcraft with pieces for sale, so you can watch before you buy.

Rental kimono (men can rent too) and two-seat rickshaws are offered for touring the streets. Admission to Aoyagi-ke, Ishiguro-ke and the Kakunodate Kabazaiku Denshokan, with kimono and rickshaw prices, is in the table below. If you prefer a guided visit, see the tours and day trips that include Kakunodate.

Getting to Kakunodate

From	To	Time
Tokyo Station	Kakunodate Station (Akita Shinkansen)	about 3 hours
Sendai Station	Kakunodate Station (Akita Shinkansen)	about 1 hour 30 minutes
Morioka Station	Kakunodate Station (Akita Shinkansen)	about 45 minutes
Akita Station	Kakunodate Station (Akita Shinkansen)	about 45 minutes
Kakunodate Station	Samurai residence street (Uchimachi)	about 15 minutes on foot
Kakunodate Station	Hinokinai River embankment Somei-yoshino row	15 minutes on foot
Kakunodate Station	Southern samurai district	7 minutes on foot
Kakunodate (walking loop)	Uchimachi samurai street, then Tomachi and the southern samurai district, and back to the start	about 5 kilometres

New to rural buses and one-man trains? See how to ride them, step by step.

Hours and Fees

What	Fare or time	Note
Aoyagi-ke admission, adult	500 yen	individual
Aoyagi-ke admission, junior high and high school student	300 yen	individual
Aoyagi-ke admission, elementary school student	200 yen	individual
Aoyagi-ke admission, adult in a group of 20 or more	450 yen	group rate
Ishiguro-ke admission, high school age and above	500 yen	individual
Ishiguro-ke, April to November	9:00 to 17:00
Ishiguro-ke, December to March	9:00 to 16:00
Kakunodate Kabazaiku Denshokan admission, high school age and above	500 yen	individual
Kakunodate Kabazaiku Denshokan admission, elementary and junior high school student	300 yen	individual
Kakunodate Kabazaiku Denshokan admission, adult in a group of 20 or more	400 yen	group rate
Municipal cherry-blossom-row car park	500 yen ordinary car, 1,000 yen medium-size car, 2,000 yen large car	per vehicle
Municipal cherry-blossom-row car park, times	8:30 to 16:30
Rental kimono	from 5,000 yen per person	men can also rent
Rickshaw, two people per vehicle	from 3,000 yen	15 minutes
Iwahashi house winter light-up	16:30 to 22:00	late January to mid-February

For an overnight stop, see places to stay in Kakunodate.