Samurai Street Kakunodate Akita
Samurai Street Kakunodate Akita
Fours years ago, we were invited to visit Akita by Tourism Akita and Wendy Tours. It is one of the most memorable trips in Japan up to date. Unlike the other popular cities or places that we visited in Japan, Akita is very laid back and it more to the traditional way of living. In short, Akita is Japanese village or ‘kampung’. The Samurai Street is one of the highlights of Kakunodate in Akita.
The journey to Akita starts from Tokyo. We took the shinkansen frromTokyo Station to Tazawako station and the journey was less than 3 hours with a few main stops in between.
The Kakunodate samurai district housed about 80 families. You get to see the samurai architecture and housing (that is uncommon in other parts in Japan).
We spent an hour here and we rented the Japanese traditional costumes for photography. This is the probably the reason why yukata rental is popular as it really makes the difference to the photo.
The Samurai Street is wide and shaded by the weeping cherry trees that is said to bloom in early May. You can find many Samurai houses on this street and also shops, cafes and restaurants.
The downside of yukata rental is the traditional Japanese wooden sandals that is hard to walk with especially walking into the Samurai Houses.
The Samurai Houses are free admission and they are Odano Samurai House, Kawarada Samurai House, Iwahashi Samurai House and Matsumoto Samurai House. Most of the samurai houses are closed from December to April.
Read also: 8 Reasons Why Akita is Japan’s Best Kept Secret
There are two museums and they are Omura Museum and Denshokan Museum. You have to pay 800 Yen for Omura Museum and 300 Yen for Denshokam Museum for entrance fees.
We didn’t explore the Samurai Street in details but if you do visit this place in May, this will be covered by Sakura trees.
Kakunodate in Akita is a place you can consider visiting in Japan if you have been to the other major cities like Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Kyoto and Nagoya.
