Ōuchi-juku

photo by Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan · CC BY 2.0

photo by Hiroaki Kaneko · CC BY-SA 3.0

Not sold, not rented, not demolished: the pact that has protected the thatch since 1981.

The main street runs between some thirty houses in a row with miscanthus-thatched roofs, which were a post station on the old road linking Aizuwakamatsu to Nikkō during the Edo period. Since 1981 the village has been a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, and the residents live under a pact written as three rules (do not sell, do not rent, do not demolish) precisely to keep the landscape intact for the benefit of those who come after. The thatched roofs insulate from heat and cold but are vulnerable to fire: every 1 September the village holds a water-spraying drill on all the houses at once.

An old post village on the Aizu-Nishi-Kaidō road, in the municipality of Shimogo, in the mountains south-west of Aizuwakamatsu.

ℹ️ The houses serve as shops and homes at the same time, with their own hours: the most reliable window for finding them open is 9:00–16:00. Ground-level car park for buses, first come first served, no booking.

🚉 大内宿下 · 6 min walk

Sources: ouchi-juku.com · hankyu-travel.com

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