Mini Travelogue | Hikone (5) Yumekyobashi Castle Road and Ashigaru House Clusters

Now that the tour of Hikone Castle is complete, I will move to the merchant town below the castle. My destination is 'Yumekyobashi Castle Road'.

After leaving the museum, I crossed the Omotemon Bridge and took a shortcut along the inner moat toward the castle town.

On the way, I found the 'Former Saigo Residence Nagayamon Gate.' It seems the samurai residence of the Saigo family, who were chief retainers of the Hikone Domain, still remains. This is a different person from Saigo Takamori of Satsuma, of course.

I have arrived at the middle moat.

Crossing the Kyobashi Bridge over the middle moat, I arrived at 'Yumekyobashi Castle Road.' The road was wide, there were no utility poles, and it was neat and tidy.

I was half-worried that it might not live up to its name, but the result was a shopping street worth seeing. It was unified with lattice windows and white walls, looking just like a merchant town from the Edo period.

I had 100% buckwheat noodles for lunch and then explored some more.

The white outer wall of the temple was magnificent.

I bought souvenirs at the tsukudani shop next to the temple. A flag for 'Handmade Lake Fish Tsukudani.' It looks delicious.

When I entered the shop, there was no one there... I rang the bell several times, but there was no sign of anyone... Just as I was about to give up and leave, an elderly woman came out from the back.

She explained that because the house is long and narrow, she couldn't hear me well. It is said that taxes were determined by the width of the frontage. It seems the depth is quite long compared to the two-ken frontage.

Perhaps for the sake of castle defense, it was mandatory for the frontage of the buildings to be angled toward the road. I wonder if it was to make it easier to spot soldiers heading toward the castle on horseback. Also, since the length of the frontage would increase, I found myself worrying on their behalf if that meant higher taxes.

This road leading to the castle was originally a narrow path only wide enough for horses to pass, but the story goes that through everyone's efforts, it was reborn as a wide shopping street. It started in the Showa era, and they have been rebuilding four houses every year. Since the white walls are made of real plaster, it seems like maintenance must be quite difficult.

Even though I was just a casual visitor, they explained everything in detail. Everyone in Hikone was like that; they were all very kind.

↑ Kaneyasu Tsukudani Shop

The souvenirs I purchased were small ayu (sweetfish) tsukudani and gori tsukudani. I was told they were handmade by an elderly woman. She mentioned that due to global warming, the fish caught in Lake Biwa have decreased, and now they only have these two types.

I ate them before I could take a picture. Sorry about that. They were delicious. Gori are tiny fish from Lake Biwa. I heard they are considered a high-end ingredient now.

Well, after finishing my exploration of the shopping street, I headed next to the Ashigaru group residences. It was about 200 meters away.

Beyond what must have been the outer wall was the town of the Ashigaru group residences. The name seems to come from the fact that the ashigaru (foot soldiers) were organized into groups.

I wanted to visit this Tsuji-bansho because I saw it on the program 'Buratamori'. The road, which should have been straight, was offset at the intersection. It was certainly possible to check passersby from the windows of the guard station.

This Tsuji-bansho seems to be open to the public on weekends.

There were several other ashigaru residences scattered throughout this residential area. I believe they are all private homes, but it must be difficult to maintain and manage them.

With that, the exploration of the Ashigaru group residences is complete. I am heading back to Castle Road.

Next time, I will post (6) Yonbancho Square and the Kawaramachi-Serimachi district.