Suya-no-saka — Kitsuki's sandwich town (杵築城下町・酢屋の坂) 酢屋の坂
Wider at the top, narrower at the bottom: the slope was designed to defend Kitsuki.
Kitsuki preserves a rare urban layout: castle and samurai residences on two plateaus (north and south), separated by a valley occupied by the merchant quarters, a form that local sources call ‘sandwich’ and which, they say, has no equal in Japan. Suya-no-saka, the best-known slope in the old town, takes its name from a vinegar shop (酢屋) that stood at its foot. It is paved with stone and lined with earthen walls and dry-stone walls, and its gradient (wider at the top, narrower at the bottom) was meant to slow down any attack. In the Edo period the square at the top served as a gathering place for samurai and horses. The reconstructed castle (tenshu) stands on the original foundations of the Matsudaira domain, assessed at 32,000 koku.
Oita
杵築バスターミナル
